If the ‘Fast & Furious‘ franchise has taught us anything then it’s that humans can survive the most unbelievable accidents and come out of the wreckage with just a few scars to show for it!! Whilst my accident wasn’t quite on that same scale it was something of a miracle that I came out fairly unscathed from the ordeal.
On Monday night (12th February) I finished my job a bit earlier than usual and was mildly excited that I’d be Continue reading
Given that there is a Russian Cathedral in Ochanomizu, a Turkish Mosque in Yoyogi and many Chinese temples in Yokohama, I’m really not sure why I was surprised to see a Taiwanese temple in Japan. I guess it was more to do with it’s rather out-of-place location up in Saitama prefecture.
Wakaba station is certainly no strange place but this temple, known locally as Seitenkyū, is a very long distance from the station. It’s about 40 minutes away on foot though I’m sure there are buses too as it is located alongside a fairly major road. Feeling at a bit of a loose end one day back in January and ever keen to find new places along the Tobu Toju line, I decided to Continue reading
One can never really get tired of seeing this beautiful, solitary, snow-capped symmetrical cone, and there are many great places to view it from. Lake Kawaguchiko, Hakone, Fuji Q Highland and Fuji Shibazakura Matsuri are among the best places in the country to admire what has long been the inspiration for many artists, poets and photographers. Oh and bloggers too!
Admittedly, I had never heard of Miho No Matsubara until a day or two before our trip to Shizuoka city but I soon realised this could Continue reading
Being in the book of Guinness World Records surely means that something is worth seeing right? Of course this is case by case but I was very keen to see this long wooden bridge whilst we were over that way on a short trip to Shizuoka city. However, the bridge’s claim to fame wasn’t enough to tempt my wife to leave the comfort of our bed early for though! Instead, I ventured on alone and headed west to Shimada station which is just under Continue reading
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: Devil Slide
Location: Continue reading
In the original ‘Godzilla‘ (1954) movie, the first place on land where the gigantic amphibious bipedal lizard arrived was Shinagawa which he promptly destroyed. Presumably ‘Shin Gojira‘ (2016) was paying homage to that and the 120 minute film features a few minutes of scenes from this ward which lies on Tokyo Bay.
N.B. The time codes given are approximate and may be slightly different to the DVD or blu-ray versions.
All the Shinagawa-based scenes occur between 23 and 26 minutes with the main Continue reading
This festival was the big one on the Australian calendar (until it finished in 2014) and one that I was lucky enough to attend back on January 26th (a.k.a. Australia Day) in 2002. Before it got cancelled I only really remembered it was Big Day Out when some British bands started to appear in Tokyo for one or two Japanese shows en-route down under where this festival moved around some of the country’s big cities. Thanks to the journal that I kept at the time (available online at afoxdownunder.wordpress.com) we can now take a look back on all that happened 16 years ago on an epic day……
It was an early start (by our standards!) for Richard Richard and I as we caught a train to Olympic Park in anticipation of buying tickets from a tout outside the Sydney Showground. Sadly Continue reading
These days Japan is awash with all manner of matcha flavoured confectionary on sale in stores nationwide. However, it may surprise the recent influx of visitors to the country that such green tea sweets are actually quite a recent phenomena in Japan (about 15 years or so) when compared with how long they’ve been drinking the stuff!
I’d come across an ice-cream shop called Nanaya whilst searching for interesting things to do the night before and so after we arrived back at Shizuoka station (following our trip to Toro Ruins) we took the 10-15 minute walk to the store (2-3-1 Ryogaecho, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka) which boasts the world’s most intense matcha taste gelato.
The funny thing is that I don’t really even like matcha ice cream that much. In fact it would probably be my Continue reading
The majority of our time over the festive break was just spent at my parents-in-law’s place in Ito but we did take a short weekend break to Shizuoka city which is still a couple of hours away despite being in the same prefecture.
Back in April last year I ventured over this way twice in two days but that was purely in the name of seeing football matches in Fujieda and Shimizu without any sightseeing whatsoever. This time though was different and our first stop on arrival was the ancient Toro ruins which we managed to reach via a quick bus ride from stop #22 on the south side of JR Shizuoka station. I just assumed there’d be some kind of Continue reading
Eating, drinking and sleeping basically covers the rest of our time in Izu but for those who have got past that first sentence let me tell you about all the other stuff starting with Ito City Hall.
Now that may sound like something really dull but this trip was just to see the Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 