Sorry it has been so very long since I updated this blog. I wish I had an excuse like a won the lottery and have been traveling the world but no turns out I was just lazy about it...

I traveled to Japan again in April of this year and one of the main things on my itinerary was visiting Zao Fox Village. I happened across a video of the place and it was love at first sight.

I remember when I was really young there was a movie called "The Glacier Fox". It was a documentary/story of a family of foxes struggling to survive in Japan by Koreyoshi Kurahara. It was one of the most memorable movies I had seen as a child maybe not Star Wars or E.T. but still it made an impact on me.

During my trip planning I saw a fox on a hill for 2 consecutive days. It had been over a decade since I saw a fox around. It felt like a good omen.

Zao Fox Village is in Miyagi Prefecture. The largest major city near it is Sendai so after staying in Tokyo for a week I headed down to Sendai by Sinkansen. It was my first visit to Miyagi Prefecture so I decided to stay several days and explore what the region had to offer (which is a lot).

I took a local express train the next morning to the town of Shiroishi near Mount Zao. The ride took me through beautiful countrysides full of mountains, farms, and rivers lined with blooming cherry blossoms. It was so tempting to jump off the train and walk along the miles of blooming cherry trees but nothing was going to stop my visit to Mt Zao. 

I arrived at Shiroishi station an hour after leaving Sendai and caught a taxi in the parking lot. The Txi took me over a beautiful river and up the winding road of Mt Zao. The entrance to the Fox Village was full of fox statues. The driver of the cab handed me a paper to call the taxi cab back after I was done. I just needed to pass it to the staff and they would call me a cab if none were around.

Inside I was greeted by a cheerful older lady who I bought a ticket from. She showed me various warning signs and offered to sell me some carrots to feed the foxes. I declined at that time as I was very eager to explore.

I will update the remainder of my trip to Mt Zao soon in part 2 of my experience at Mt Zao Fox Village in a couple of days...