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Fox Village - best day trip out of Tokyo

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If you have a day to spare during your stay in Tokyo you should visit the Miyagi Zao Fox Village. It's located in Shiroishi (Miyagi Prefecture) - an easy train ride away. Hundreds of really cute wild foxes run free in the large forest-like sanctuary. Surprisingly (given how adorable the foxes are) this is a less popular destination for tourists compared to bunny island, deer heaven Nara and all the countless animal cafes. Are you interested?

How to get there

From Tokyo take the Shinkansen to Shiroishizao station. If you board on Tokyo station you won't even have to change trains! Use the Hyperdia scheduling tool to find a convenient time. My advice is to leave Tokyo as early as possible so you have maximum time with the cute foxes (the village closes at 4pm)

Once you arrive at Shiroishizao station, you'll need to get a taxi to the fox village. The train station has a small JR tourism office out front and they will call you a cab if they are none outside the station. Look around for other travelers going to the fox sanctuary and you can split the cab fare. The cost for the ride would be 4000-5000 yen each way (bring cash).

Entrance fee for Zao Fox Village is 1000 yen.

When you are ready to leave, exit through the gift shop and ask the checkout register to call you a taxi back to the train station. It takes about 20min for the cab to come pick you up.

Tips

Check the weather. We went there end of March and there was still snow. I wish I had gloves and a warm scarf with me

While in the village you will hear announcements on the loud speakers. We didn't know what they were about but it turns out that they tell you when you can go by the entrance and hold one fox in your lap and cuddle it. I recommend it but beware they smell a little bit:))

Read the directions given to you at the front office carefully but don't freak out. They make it sound like the foxes will attack you which in reality is not true. They are very playful and if you have any dangling things they will attempt to snatch them but they mean well.

You can totally give the foxes some food (the special food you buy on the spot, 200 yen) off the feeding platform. The moment they hear the plastic bag in your pocket they will follow you around (they won't attack you, at least they never attempted attacking us). It's better to drop the food on the ground or throw it gently in the air to avoid an accidental bite. Using the food is a good way to capture some close up photos of these majestic animals.

Just like salt bae, right?

Just like salt bae, right?