Five years ago I went to Japan’s hottest city of Kumagaya for an international rugby match and took in a few minor sights in the hours before kick off. As I came away from the ground a fellow niche-specialist Japanese friend asked if I’d seen the big Buddha statue in that area. As a fan of such statues I was disappointed that I was unaware of it but made a note of it for future occasion. That time finally came round a couple of months ago when I went back to this area of Saitama Prefecture. Take the train for just an hour north of Ikebukuro and you’ll arrive in Gyoda city which is home to man ..read more

Late last year one of my friends posted on Facebook about driving round an area just north of Tokyo in the name of visiting various kofun (ancient burial mounds). The city they’re dotted around was a place I knew about from my last trip to a nearby area five years ago, and seeing his pictures prompted me to finally go there to see it all for myself. Take the Shonan-Shinjuku Line north of Ikebukuro for about an hour and you’ll arrive in the city of Gyoda which is located in north-central Saitama, with the Tone River separating it from Gunma Prefecture. The Kofun Period is an era in the history ..read more

This rural part of Saitama is one of my favourite places in the prefecture (one of the top 10  Saitama sights in this post from a decade ago!) but one that I have only visited a few times, and not for over ten years! It was time to change all that and on this occasion it was actually my wife who pushed for us to go there. The main reason for this trip was to ride on Japan’s most futuristic luxury liner and to take the dog out for a half-day trip. Of course if we had only wanted to ride the train, we could have just taken it between a couple of the stations but we decided to take it the f ..read more

  The surrounding areas of Tokyo offer plenty of choice when it comes to day trips from the capital. Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama all have great places within 60-90 minutes travelling distance and Ibaraki prefecture (particularly Tsukuba city) is actually just 45 minutes from Akihabara. What to do though when you feel you’ve covered much of what those prefectures offer? The answer is Tochigi. Nikko is the most famous attraction and then there’s Kinugawa Onsen too. Main city Utsunomiya is famous for its gyoza dumplings but this list, in no particular order, is ..read more

Given that such a temple is something I’d barely give a look at if I was in Thailand, it is perhaps a little strange that I made such a big effort to see one in Japan. However, this  temple is not only unique for being Thai but it’s also located in the middle of nowhere, and the difficulty in getting there made it an even more appealing destination for me back in early August. I’m sure many might question the idea of a 7-8 hour round trip from Tokyo (including 2.5 hours walking!) just to see a Thai temple but this place has been on my bucket list ever since I came across it a few years a ..read more

Season one of this dating challenge wrapped earlier this year in March after about 13 months of working my way through the alphabet. It was mostly fun and hopefully resulted in me being a better husband by suggesting we go to some places that I’d never usually want to go to.    It would probably have been more enjoyable if my wife wasn’t in the dark as it’d have been good fun to discuss possibilities for each letter. I did think of suggesting it to her and then taking it in turns to come up with things to do for each letter but I thought she would dismiss it as a silly idea straight ..read more

The thousands and thousands of shrines in Japan often have the likes of foxes, lions, lion-dogs but there are a few exceptions like wolves, elephants or horses. Never did I know there was a frog shrine though, and it was found by accident not too far from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre. What is more surprising is that I came across this place completely by accident as my wife and I were only in the area to visit the nearby park to see the Autumn leaves, Jōmon-era dwellings and basically just enjoy visiting a part of Saitama unknown to us. A short train journey up the Tobu Toju Line to ..read more

One of the most interesting sights I saw in Turkey in 2011 was the underground Basilica Cistern (below) which featured in the second James Bond film `From Russia With Love` (1963). I often forget about this place as my trip to Istanbul was basically just an add-on to the main Jordan-part of the holiday.   On my return to Tokyo I heard there was a similar place located in Saitama somewhere. I knew bookings were necessary to see it but the years passed by and I just never got round to putting my plan into practice, and it over time it got crossed off my bucket list. However, my i ..read more

  An abandoned building in a field in the middle of nowhere might not interest too many but when I heard about this place I was keen to check it out. The fact that it was a relatively straightforward journey for me increased my desire to see it but of course it wasn’t quite that simple. Take the Tobu Toju Line all the way north up to Ogawamachi (TJ33) in Saitama, change to the JR Hachiko Line, and four stops on is the unstaffed Yodo Station. Yes, it’s just one letter away from being the name of a legendary Star Wars character! For the record, there is sadly no Yoda Station in Japan but t ..read more

Museums don’t often get featured on Tokyo Fox as I generally find it difficult to truly appreciate them. There are always exceptions though and one such example is this art museum up in Saitama which was brought to my attention as it exhibits a prototype of one of the Nakagin capsules from the famed architectural wonder tower block in Ginza. Little did I know but the museum building was also a fine piece of modern architecture. Just a short 10 minute walk from Kita Urawa Station on the Keihin–Tōhoku Line is the Museum of Modern Art Saitama (9-30-1 Tokiwa, Urawa-ku, Saitama) which i ..read more