At the start of this month I was looking at Futbology (an app for ground hoppers) when I noticed someone had been to Miyagi Stadium. Not only that but he had actually seen Vegalta Sendai in action rather than Mynavi Sendai Ladies team or Sony Sendai FC * who sometimes play there. I was somewhat surprised as Vegalta play their home games at the Yurtec Stadium but subsequent research told me that new turf was being laid there so Continue reading
It seems like many Buddha statues have some kind of claim to fame whether it be the tallest, longest or biggest one made of whatever material in whichever country, city or region.
This Buddha statue in Japan is the largest bronze statue in the world but I sadly wasn’t aware of it until shortly after I’d made a Continue reading
Just three nights after seeing Kylie, we were at another concert but this one couldn’t have been more constrasting in style!
It was back to more regular and comfortable territory for me as my wife and I went to Toyosu Pit in Koto Ward (Tokyo) to see the genius behind The Continue reading
Over the last few decades I’ve seen around 150 live music performances (mainly thanks to seeing multiple acts at UK summer festivals) but very, very few of them have involved pop groups or singers. Whilst I have seen the likes of Robbie Williams and All Saints as part of festival line-ups I’ve definitely never seen a pop act in their own solo show but that changed very recently when my wife and I saw Australia’s greatest export live in concert.
Whenever I go to Ariake in Koto ward (Tokyo) it is almost always in the name of tennis but this time it was to see the princess of pop who was back in Japan performing live for the first time since 2011. Until this concert date was announced last year, I was completely Continue reading
After moving to Tokyo, it took a while for my first foreign trip to happen but when it did the destination was South Korea which is no real surprise given its close proximity to Japan. That initial trip to the capital city for a few days in extremely cold conditions was mentioned briefly in the inaugural Tokyo Fox post but it then took nearly a decade for my next trip. That was when my wife and I spent a couple of nights with my number one American friend Ethan who was living in Seoul at that time with his family.
This three day trip was never really going to be a big dive into Korean culture but there was still a smattering of local Continue reading
Whilst some people love the variety of a different place and activities for their holiday each year, there are also many others who are more than content to just the do the same every time. I’ve long been of the attitude that change is best. I still am but situation and circumstances change and so that is why the the first few days of this latest trip to our holiday home pretty much mirrored exactly what we had done 12 months earlier.
Not too much of note happened on the first couple of days but the first morning of 2025 began (as it did last year!) with a short bus ride to Continue reading
There’s something slightly mystical and Harry Potter-like about these platforms and one has to wonder why some stations have them whether it be because it’s been added on that particular side of platform 1 or just because they began their numbering from zero! I’m not sure if I’ll ever visit all of them but certainly hope to tick a few more off as the years go by! The challenge continues with a visit to all the platform 0 stations in Fukuoka!
1. Haruda Continue reading
When it comes to movie history, Himeji-jo in Hyogo Prefecture is probably the most famous castle in Japan as it featured in the James Bond film ‘You Only Live Twice‘ (1967) as well as two Japanese movies by legendary director Akira Kurosawa; ‘Kagemusha‘ (1980) and ‘Ran’ (1985). A few years ago I blew the trumpet for Hikone-jo in Shiga Prefecture which was used for two lesser movies by way of ‘3 Ninjas Kick Back‘ (1994 and ‘The Hunted‘ (1995) and now it is time to rave about another hidden gem.
Admittedly, I had never heard of this castle until I watched ‘Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins‘ (2021) in the year of its release. I was most surprised to discover that Continue reading
Over the last few years I’ve been to watch about 25 different sports but the one major omission is probably golf. I don’t really have anything against it but it’s just not something I’ve ever really got into or watched for more than a few minutes here and there. Also, I’ve never conducted any business meetings on golf courses which, if I’m to believe TV and film, seems to be quite common.
When I was a kid, I would often do some putting in our back garden or play the likes of mini-golf and crazy golf at various parks from time to time. That was a long time ago, and having never Continue reading
For over a decade Tokyo Fox has focused on the modern architecture of Tokyo with a long-running ten part series featuring over 100 interesting-looking buildings. During that time I have also taken photos of some unique structures outside of the capital city but had no place to showcase them until now. This is Volume 8 which includes some weird and wonderful buildings in the Kyoto region.
5. Kyoto Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 