Think of train stations in Japan and the mighty Shinjuku station is sure to come to mind for many people. That is the world’s busiest train station and Japan monopolises the top 50 list with only five of them not in this country. However, at the other end of the scale are some tiny stations which are usually unstaffed and used by very few commuters. Continue reading
You’re getting a post out of this! Tokyo Fox must surely have run out of material I hear you cry but before I lose you all I should note that this particular convenience store is quite unique in one sense. Japan, particularly Tokyo, is packed full of 24 hour convenience stores and you are rarely ever too far from a 7 Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, Mini-Stop or Sunkus (other convenience stores are available!). Their bright facades make them very noticeable and Japan’s third most common convenience store (after 7-Eleven and Family Mart) is noticeable for its bright blue and white frontage with the milk can logo.
However, as you may have noticed from the pictures above, this particular conbini (as convenience stores are called in Japan) is predominately red. There are more than Continue reading
Ask many foreigners their opinion on Japan and it will more than likely include some kind of reference to something weird and wonderful whether it be a silly TV programme, a funnily named drink, a quirky festival, a strange flavoured food or a themed restaurant. This post certainly does nothing to dispel that stereotype! Continue reading
When it comes to doing animation locales, I have rarely ever seen the film or TV show before becoming aware that it’s been based on real locations. I’m definitely not what could be called an animation fan but whenever I hear of a place that has been featured I am keen to check it out. That most recently happened regarding ‘Your Name‘ (2016) and it happened again whilst I was in Hagi (Yamaguchi prefecture) with my wife and her parents in the August obon holiday.
Whilst walking around the streets of the old castle town area we arrived at Enseiji Temple and I have to admit that I had no plan whatsoever to enter it. However, I saw a noticeboard featuring a poster of screenshots and soon realised that an animation had used this temple in one of its story lines. The locales-geek part of me couldn’t let it pass so I paid my 200 yen entrance charge (which included a rather nice old-fashioned poster map of the area) and went for a quick look.
The ‘Detective Conan‘ (1996 – ) animated TV series (known as ‘Case Closed‘ in the USA) used this place as a basis for one of it’s episodes and so I thought I’d Continue reading
The journey towards ‘The Force Awakens‘ (2015) began around this time two years ago with #ForceFriday and now we have #ForceFridayII to mark the release of its sequel ‘The Last Jedi‘ (2017). As hotly anticipated as this one is, it’s surely not going to be able to replicate the staggering commercial success of a film that fans had to wait over 30 years for!
There wasn’t that much Star Wars activity in Tokyo on #ForceFriday in 2015 (compared to other principle markets like the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Spain) and even less for #RogueFriday last September but this time there were a few events taking place.
Loft in Shibuya, Tsutaya T-Site in Daikanyama and Toys ‘R’ Us in Ikebukuro all had midnight events this time and Tokyo Fox was on hand at Continue reading
In the early days of visiting Hiroshima it was like a holiday but after going there so many times it’s fair to say that the number of things to do close to the city centre dries up. As a result, I’ve been looking slightly further afield to the neighbouring prefectures for day trips and so it was really nice to go on a two day trip to a few places in Yamaguchi prefecture with my wife and her parents.
Akiyoshido Cave in Mine city provided the first mornings entertainment and that was followed by Motonosumi Inari Shrine. After that we drove over to an Okijima island (no pictures!) and then on to our ryokan (Japanese style inn often found in hot spring resorts) in Nagato which was difficult to find and involved some very narrow streets. Having checked in, I popped out for a brief wander and pretty much covered the whole area in about 10-15 minutes! It was a very pleasant-looking town and things were ready for the annual matsuri festival the following night.
Dinner (below) was a very elaborate kaiseki-ryōri (traditional multi-course Japanese dinner) affair and was rather Continue reading
What better way to start the day than with a temple featuring a load of phallic-shaped structures! As ever with such places there was a slightly more serious meaning behind the facade and one that is of great importance to my wife and I at the moment.
When we left my parents-in-law’s apartment to embark on a short two day-one night trip around some places in Yamaguchi prefecture I wasn’t even Continue reading
Think of loads of beautiful red torii gates winding their way through a beautiful natural environment and Fushimi Inari in Kyoto is no doubt what comes to mind for almost everyone. However, this particular shrine is a rival contender when it comes to truly beautiful and awe-inspiring landscape. The combination of lush greenery, bright red torii gates and turquoise-blue ocean colours make this a mesmerising place for tourists. It may not be one of the major Inari shrines in Japan but this was the one that I wanted to visit more than any other. The problem though is it’s location!
Lying on the Sea of Japan coast up in Nagato (Yamaguchi-ken) it is very much off the average tourist’s radar. Accessibility is not easy without a car as the nearest station (Nagato-Furuichi) is over Continue reading
It’s been a pretty frantic last seven weeks with trips to Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and in the recent Obon holiday we went to Hiroshima to see my wife’s parents as we often tend to do in such holiday periods. Whilst the former did involve some cave temples in Dambulla, they were quite different to Akiyoshido Cave.
These limestone caves are actually located over the border from Hiroshima in neighbouring prefecture Yamaguchi. I suggested a few places of interest in surrounding prefectures at the dinner table the previous night and my father-in-law decided we’d go to the caves in Mine City which are roughly 150 kilometres away. It wasn’t to be a straightforward day return trip though as it soon Continue reading
Only a matter of days after I had published all eleven of my Shizuoka-related posts from the Japanese Golden Week holiday, I was back in Izu visiting my in-laws. My wife had already been resting up there the week prior to my arrival and the plan this time was to go to Jogasaki Kaigan Coast. The weather forecast for the day was pretty Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 