This Year’s “May The 4th Be With You” Festivities In Tokyo Were The Best Yet!

Posted on May 13, 2025 by tokyofox

As if three days of Star Wars Celebration Japan (SWCJ) 2025 wasn’t enough there’s also been the second seasons of both ‘Andor’ and ‘Light & Magic‘ as well as the ‘Tales of the Underworld‘ animation shorts. On top of that were the Star Wars Day events for May the 4th in Yokohama and Shibuya, and part of that included one cinema in Tokyo showing all nine of the Skywalker saga films on rotation for 12 days. It’s been one hell of a busy month for us Star Wars fans and, as tired as I am, I have absolutely loved it all.

Work, family and travel commitments meant I Continue reading →

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A Great Atmosphere For My 1st Time Inside Japan’s Newest Top Flight Stadium

Posted on May 9, 2025 by tokyofox

In recent years, Kyoto Sanga (2020) and Gamba Osaka (2015) have moved into new and modern football-only stadiums thereby joining the likes of Kashiwa Reysol, Shimizu S-Pulse, Nagoya Grampus, Vissel Kobe, Avispa Fukuoka, Kashima Antlers and Cerzeo Osaka who don’t have pitches with athletics tracks surrounding them. One more top-flight club recently ditched their far-flung ground in favour of a centrally-located stadium and last weekend I watched a match there for the first time.

The latest side to move away from the municipal style all-sports stadia was Continue reading →

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Interesting Japanese Playground Structures #46 – Octopus Slide

Posted on May 6, 2025 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: Tako Park

Location: Continue reading →

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Modern Architecture Outside of Tokyo #9 – Osaka (Part 1)

Posted on May 2, 2025 by tokyofox

 

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 9 which includes some weird and wonderful buildings in Osaka.

5. Oppai House @ Continue reading →

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Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Day 3: Exploring The Galaxy Far Away For Real, Free Swag, More Cosplayers & The Vegetable God’s Given The Recognition He Deserves!

Posted on April 29, 2025 by tokyofox

Ever since purchasing my three-day pass for Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 (SWCJ2025) in May last year I had been a little apprehensive about how overwhelming I’d find it all as I’d only ever done single days of such conventions. Despite a serious lack of sleep over the long weekend I was thankfully running on adrenaline at the start of the third day as I made my two hour journey to Makuhari Messe in Chiba for the final time.

On the opening day I’d gone late to avoid the entrance lines. The first half of my second day was spent queuing to get into the merchandise store and for Day 3 I decided to Continue reading →

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Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Day 2: The Ridiculously Long Wait For Merchandise, A Trio of Entertaining Panels & Meeting Some Fan Community Favourites

Posted on April 25, 2025 by tokyofox

The interesting thing about Star Wars Celebration events is that every attendee will have a unique and different experience. The likes of cosplaying, panels, photo opps, signings, merchandise and talking to other people are just some of the many reasons why Star Wars fans love Celebration so much. For the middle day I decided to Continue reading →

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Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Day 1: Ryan Gosling & Sigourney Weaver Up Close, Animation & 90s Panels, Cuteness Overload, Cosplayers & Meeting A Fan Favourite

Posted on April 22, 2025 by tokyofox

For the first time in nearly two decades, Star Wars Celebration was held in Japan at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture. That event in 2008 really ignited my fandom but I honestly thought the language barrier would mean it stays predominantly in the USA with the occasional UK-based ones. “Star Wars is for everyone” is a well-used phrase but it certainly does favour the English-speaking audience so it would be interesting to see how things would work in the modern day compared to 17 years ago.

Very few tourists ever really came to Japan in 2008 and that Celebration event was very much a Japanese one for local fans of the franchise. Since re-opening its doors to international visitors a few years ago the country has seen a massive influx of international visitors. Being far more open to people from overseas and the growth in popularity of Continue reading →

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TF Top 10……Places In Tokyo Metropolis Taking You To Another World!

Posted on April 18, 2025 by tokyofox

 

For the thousands and thousands of inbound tourists coming to Japan from the western world in the last couple of years, Japan can be a bit like a fairytale land that is just so different to their own country. Once you’ve been here for a while though you might be in  need of a break from all things Japanese so here are some suggestions of places in the Tokyo Metropolis area that can take you to another world. They are listed in no particular order.

1. Sakura Furusato Square @ Sakura, Continue reading →

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I Hopped On Over To The Outskirts of The City To Visit A Frog Temple

Posted on April 14, 2025 by tokyofox

The sight of a frog temple in Japan is quite a rare one but this region possesses two of them, and I hopped on over to one of them to see if it was a ribbet-ing place or not!

Unwittingly I had chosen to visit the secondary temple which is said to be Continue reading →

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TF Flashback: Parasailing, Horse Riding, Snake Temple, Local Food, Dr Fish & 007 In Malaysia’s British Colonial Town (2010)

Posted on April 10, 2025 by tokyofox

When planning any trip it’s fairly usual to check out the weather forecast for the place you’re going to. In my experience, the sight of rain every day in south-east Asian cities has been quite a common occurrence but has rarely ever been correct. That was indeed what was predicted for my three night trip to Malaysia 15 years ago but reality was just a few brief moments of drizzle amidst mostly hot weather.

On arrival at the airport, my girlfriend-of-the-time and I took Continue reading →

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