Tokyo Modern Architecture #4

Posted on November 11, 2018 by tokyofox

For all its good points, Tokyo ain’t half one ugly looking city with buildings pretty much erected (and pulled down) willy nilly without any thought to the environment around it. However, amid all the chaos of such a concrete jungle there are a fair few examples of modern architecture which I am ever keen to photograph. Now, I am certainly no expert on such a topic but have enjoyed going around capturing the interesting and weird designs of some of these buildings.

It was a five year wait for the follow up to the original 2012 ‘Tokyo Modern Architecture‘ post and then ‘Tokyo Modern Architecture #2‘ and ‘Tokyo Modern Architecture #3‘ followed last year. Here, in no particular order, is the next volume of interesting looking Japanese buildings including the addresses:

1. Tokyo Big Sight, 3-11-1 Ariake, Koto-ku.

2. Fragment No.5, Midtown Garden, Continue reading →

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The Natural Island In Eastern Tokyo You Probably Didn’t Know About!

Posted on November 8, 2018 by tokyofox

Think of islands in Tokyo and the mind will likely come up with the Izu-Ogasawara Islands which are two groups of volcanic and tropical islands lying south of Tokyo stretching for 1000 kilometres into the Pacific Ocean. Some others may think of the artificial man-made island Odaiba, Tennozu Isle or even the floating service station island between Kanagawa and Chiba in Tokyo Bay. Monkey Island (a.k.a. Sarushima) is also in Tokyo Bay but it is technically part of Kanagawa prefecture so that can’t be included.

Mention Myoken-jima Island though and very, very few locals will have even heard of it. When I mentioned it to a friend who lives in Kasai she said she was completely unaware of it! If you’re heading eastwards on the Tozai Line towards Chiba then look out the window on your left as you cross the Kyu Edo-gawa River and floating in the middle of the parallel Urayasu Bridge is something resembling a ship. However, that is actually Myoken-jima Island which is the only Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #15 – Panda Slide

Posted on November 5, 2018 by tokyofox

Many of the parks and children’s playgrounds in Japan, particularly in Tokyo, are quite poor compared to other countries in terms of space, surroundings and a lack of grass. However, a handful of them do tend to possess extremely creative structures and they will be explored in this series.

Nickname: Panda Slide 

Location: Panda Park Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: The Floating Service Station In The Middle Of Tokyo Bay

Posted on November 2, 2018 by tokyofox

For a long, long time I’ve been aware that there was a way of crossing Tokyo Bay by car but I just assumed it was a tunnel. Little did I know that it was a mix of both tunnel and bridge with a 650 metre long island-of-sorts in the centre. It’s known as Umihotaru (Sea-firefly) and is basically a service station in the middle of the bay.

The only reason anyone ever goes to Umihotaru, which took 23 years to plan and nine years to construct, is to rest their legs, go to the toilet and take a break from driving between Kawasaki (Kanagawa) and Kisarazu (Chiba). Well, everyone apart from me! I wanted to check it out whilst the sun was prevalent so decided to visit it on what I thought may Continue reading →

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A Spook-tacular Halloween (2018)

Posted on October 30, 2018 by tokyofox

The tragic events of last weekend’s helicopter crash back in Leicester didn’t exactly put me in the mood for doing this kids party to celebrate Halloween but, as they say, the show must go on. It’s all part of a teacher’s life to put on a smile and forget about whatever is happening in your own personal life, and for the most part focusing on something else usually does help me.

Since retiring from going out in Shibuya during this season (for it is definitely a season these days rather than just a solitary day like in the past!) this kids party has become my only real outlet for sampling Halloween in Japan in recent years. However this could well have been my last as, after 8.5 years, I am moving on from this particular school.

  

For the record, I stopped going out in Shibuya at Halloween because the Continue reading →

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The Virtually Abandoned Station Just Over The Border From Tokyo

Posted on October 26, 2018 by tokyofox

Recent travels in the northern parts of Japan’s mainland have seen me whizzing past many unmanned stations. It’s not really a surprise to see them in the countryside but it’s rare to see such a thing so close to Tokyo. Just over the border though is a virtually abandoned station which continues to operate in darkness.

 

This station in the Tsurumi ward of Yokohama city (Kanagawa prefecture) has incredibly been unstaffed since March 1971 and has none of the regular Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: The Town In Tochigi Built On A Mountain Of Stone

Posted on October 23, 2018 by tokyofox

  

It is very rare to find an inland town built on a mountain of stone as they are usually found on the coastlines and valleys of Japan caused by earthquakes or volcanoes. That’s not the case though for this Tochigi-town in the north-west of Utsunomiya which is the heart of Oya stone production quarried exclusively in this area.

After arriving at Utsunomiya Station I headed straight down to the bus station but couldn’t work out where the bus to Oya was going from. I went back up into the station to ask at the Tourist Information desk and it proved to be a great idea as they presented me with a special One day Oya sightseeing ticket for Continue reading →

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The Sighting Of This Mysterious Hotel Is Very Much For Real

Posted on October 20, 2018 by tokyofox

There really is no difficulty in identifying this particular building over in one of Tokyo’s bordering prefectures.

 

It’s not often I venture on over to Chiba these days other than for flights from Narita Airport or the annual Tokyo ComicCon. The latter was in early December last year and wanting to see a a couple of places nearby beforehand, I decided to stop at Makuhari-Hongo station on the Sobu Line. Less than ten minutes away on foot was a building I was intrigued by and keen to see up close. It is simply called  Continue reading →

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Feel Like You’re In The Army At This Self Defense Force Center Just Outside Tokyo

Posted on October 17, 2018 by tokyofox

The Ground Self Defense Force Nerima Garrison (10 minutes walk from Tobu Nerima Station on the Tobu Tojo Line) is a place I used to regularly cycle past about eight years ago on the way to one of my workplaces and, as someone with a military interest, I one day circled the place in search of some kind entrance for the public to enter. There wasn’t one though. Little did I know that a further six kilometres up the road was the Japan Ground Defense Force (JGSDF) PR Center which does have a museum open to the public for free.

  

I only found out about this place earlier in the Summer and so decided to cycle the 10 kilometres or so from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre on what was a ridiculously hot day (around 35 or 36 degrees celsius) back in mid-July. Cycling in such conditions isn’t as bad as some may think as you do still get a bit of wind but I really Continue reading →

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This Doll Temple In Shizuoka Prefecture Is Like No Other!

Posted on October 14, 2018 by tokyofox

Everything about this temple looks pretty much like any other……except for the two six-metre tall red and blue daruma dolls sitting on the wings of the main hall. For those who don’t know, daruma is a traditional Japanese buddhist doll deemed to bring good luck when given as a gift of encouragement. I saw a large one in the far flung western part of Tokyo called Ome a few months ago, and these ones were probably of similar size.

  

On a Sunday morning back in August, I took the local train for a few hours to Hamamatsu Station having spent the previous night at my in-laws place (on my own) in Izu. It took about three hours to reach Hamamatsu and I quickly hopped (or jumped if you prefer! Reality is that I just stepped on to it of course!) on to the number Continue reading →

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