Zao Fox Village

Hello!

I'm travelling to Tokyo this summer for 14 days, and we were aiming at staying for the most part in Tokyo. But after some more research we've got this incredible facination with foxes and we figured we wanted to visit the Zao Fox village.

I have found that the fastest route is from Tokyo Station to Sendai Station, and from there a taxi (for about 20 min) to around Shiroishi.

Does anyone know how much this trip will cost us (train + taxi)? And how is the village/city on English?
Lastly, is there any hotels in the area that is reasonable? And is there any cheaper way of getting there from Tokyo?

Thanks in advance.

Shiroishi is the nearest rail station to the fox village but not far away is Shiroishizao station which has direct shinkansen link with Tokyo. There is no need to go to Sendai which would take an hour drive to the fox village, longer still and more expensive by taxi. The drive from Shiroishi station to the fox village is about 22 min, from Shiroishizao station it is about 25 min. There is a bus going there from Shiroishi station but it doesn't run everyday, only a couple of days per week

I actually went there last week and the taxi was around 3600 yen from the station. Honestly, though, if you love foxes I wouldn't support it. The free foxes on the hillside are okay and really cute as you would expect (though there are too many imo, and the place doesn't seem very conscientious about population control), but there are also foxes in tiny wire cages showing signs of stress, and the farm animals in the petting zoo don't seem to be that well looked after- the horses had sores, and some of the bunnies had had their ears half bitten off.

I was so surprised because everything I'd read so far on the internet about it was really positive, so I was expecting a place with animal welfare in mind, but it's just a tourist trap with a lot of animals.