Late Japanese Sporting Drama!

Posted on September 21, 2015 by tokyofox

On Saturday night I was honestly in tears as a late winner provided a fantastic climax to a Japanese sporting event. That’s enough about the Cherry Blossoms last gasp victory against South Africa in the Rugby World Cup in England though! Instead, I am talking about matchday 11 of the J-League game I was at over in the city of Yokohama!

With five different J-League grounds under my belt this season I thought I would try and add a few more before the end of the J-League seasons in November. Although I’ve been on a tour of the stadium which hosted the 2002 World Cup final, I’ve never seen an actual game there so I decided to pop along to see home team Yokohama F. Marinos in action.

IMG_2551  IMG_2552  Continue reading →

Posted in Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

TF Flashback: Spa Resort Hawaiians (2004)

Posted on September 18, 2015 by tokyofox

When a colleague told me recently that he was going to this place I was happy to respond and say that I had actually been there. What I didn’t realise was that it’s actually located in Fukushima prefecture which seems so far away now but back in 2004, and living in Chiba, it was just a ride away on the Joban Line. Continue reading →

Posted in Japan Travel, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Review: Films Inspired By Japan – Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990)

Posted on September 16, 2015 by tokyofox

Yet another silly movie with p*ss-poor acting but I guess that’s what we’ve come to expect from a low budget independent production company like Troma. ‘Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.‘ is actually a spin-off from the Kabuki-Boy character seen in ‘The Toxic Avenger Part II‘ (1989) which is actually one of the films showing at the cinema (along with ‘Black Rain‘) in the background of an early scene involving the protagonist. Company founder Lloyd Kaufman jokingly mentioned he was making a movie about the character and Japanese investors became interested so you can blame this country for this comical sci-fi cop adventure seeing the light of day! Continue reading →

Posted in Review: Films Inspired By Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Friday Night Football

Posted on September 13, 2015 by tokyofox

Dare I say it but I have actually quite enjoyed the recent international break following the fortunes of the like of England, Wales and Northern Ireland at the business end of European Championship qualification. It was also nice to see recent Leicester recruit Shinji Okazaki turn out for the Japan national team and he managed to get on the scoresheet a couple of times against Afghanistan.

However, the break from domestic football has brought about two weeks of almost non-stop heavy rain but thankfully the sun was finally out a couple of days ago (did it hold off all night though? Find out later!) as the J-League resumed live from Saitama with Friday Night Football featuring my Kashiwa Reysol boys from Chiba on the road at Urawa Reds.

IMG_2476  IMG_2491  Continue reading →

Posted in Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

London Filming Locations: GoldenEye (1995)

Posted on September 10, 2015 by tokyofox

After a six year hiatus the James Bond franchise returned in 1995 with Irish actor Pierce Brosnan at the helm as the series was modernised a bit in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War and this ended up providing background for the plot.

Following opening scenes in Switzerland (filling in for the USSR) and Monaco, the capital of England appears as we see the debut of the MI6 building, Vauxhall Cross (below) at 85 Albert Embankment. It would go on to appear in ‘The World Is Not Enough‘ (1999), ‘Die Another Day‘ (2002) and ‘Skyfall‘ (2012) and just so you know that it really is London, a red double decker passes by in the foreground on 36 minutes.

Screen Shot 2015-03-29 at 15.57.30  Dec2010-Jan2011 187  Continue reading →

Posted in James Bond, London Film Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

“Okazaki 20” Leicester City Shirt Spotted In Tokyo! That’ll Be Me!

Posted on September 7, 2015 by tokyofox

The ‘Okazaki to Leicester’ stories had been doing the rumour-mill for many months before the Japan striker finally put pen to paper at the end of June and made the £7m switch from Mainz in the Bundasliga. I was actually informed of these stories at the turn of the year by one of my 10 year old students not that I believed her at first!

In June, Yoshinori Muto signed for Mainz linking up with his Japanese teammate although Tokyo Fox never thought it would be too long before Okazaki signed for Leicester. However, the rumours died down and I had pretty much given up on it until I woke up one morning (having slept in the car!) in Hokkaido in June and read that he had signed for the Foxes.

okazaki-16-9-lc7412-007280-2509135  i  Continue reading →

Posted in Japan Life, Leicester City, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

#ForceFriday – The Journey Towards The New Star Wars Movie Has Begun

Posted on September 4, 2015 by tokyofox

It’s still a few months until ‘The Force Awakens‘ a.k.a. ‘Star Wars Episode VII‘ gets its worldwide release but for a while now September 4th has been billed as #ForceFriday; the journey towards the long awaited sequel to ‘Return Of The Jedi‘ (1983).

Much of the Star Wars fan community has been getting very excited about today and the release of new merchandise in stores and fan events around the world to mark the occasion. Principle markets like the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Spain have had midnight openings to allow fans to get their hands on all kinds of new figures, toys, stationery, Lego, clothing, masks, lightsabers and other such accessories.

As much as I tried to find out, I got no answers from Tokyo stores regarding them doing anything for #ForceFriday. Eventually I just decided that I’d check out the huge Toys ‘R’ Us store within Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. Fortunately, my friend Ben mailed me earlier this morning asking if I was going there and so we agreed to meet up to visit the shop just after it opened at 11am.

It took us a while to locate the Force Awakens goodies but just as we were pessimistically thinking there would be one or two Star Wars toys in the whole place we then saw a sizeable section devoted to all the new Star Wars things.

IMG_2407  IMG_2384  Continue reading →

Posted in Star Wars | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Cambodia 2015 Pt VI: Phnom Penh

Posted on August 31, 2015 by tokyofox

On my previous visit to Cambodia at the end of 2006 my travel friends and I didn’t really give the capital city much of a chance and other than a tuk-tuk evening tour and a few drinks in one bar we left the place after just a sole night. I wasn’t too sad about it at the time but back then I was fairly clueless about Asia and still had a lot to learn!

Nearly nine years later and I was more interested in spending a bit of time in Phnom Penh and so, following our tour of places associated with the dark side of Cambodia’s history, we moved riverside for a spot of lunch. After a very sombre morning I was in need of a beer and food-wise I plumped for the Khmer Boran chicken curry.

IMG_1687  IMG_1688  Continue reading →

Posted in Asia Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Cambodia Filming Locations: City Of Ghosts & R-Point

Posted on August 28, 2015 by tokyofox

Ever since I saw ‘City Of Ghosts‘ for the first time in 2010 I have been interested in the Old Bokor Hill location which appears towards the end of the movie. Further online research informed me that a Korean movie had also been filmed there which I alerted my friend Mostyn to ahead of his visit to the area in January 2011 and thankfully he bought both films on DVD so I was able to borrow and re-watch them ahead of this trip.

Le Bokor Palace a.k.a. Old Casino Hotel is shrouded in history with tales to tell from within its walls since construction began around a century ago. All fascinating stuff but it is the last decade which is of most interest to Tokyo Fox when ‘City Of Ghosts‘ (2002) and ‘R-Point‘ (2004) were filmed there.

WARNING: Contains spoilers!

The Old Palace Hotel first appears on 90 minutes as Jimmy (Matt Dillon) approaches it  from the south-west but sadly whilst we were there I didn’t visit this particular spot which is a little annoying as I had all the screen shots with me! Instead, I include my first glimpse of the place. As mentioned in the previous post the old structure was obscured by mist and fog when we arrived with visibility cut down substantially. A perfect introduction to a place famed for it’s eerie atmosphere!

Screen Shot 2015-07-24 at 14.47.33  IMG_2095  Continue reading →

Posted in Asia Travel, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Cambodia 2015 Pt V: Bokor Hill Station

Posted on August 25, 2015 by tokyofox

My main reason for going over to Kampot was to visit the Bokor Hill Station area and my original plan was to take a $12 tour bus to see it all. However, the night before the very nice hotel manager at The Columns introduced me to a retired American guy called Benji (now living in Thailand) and we agreed to take a taxi together to allow for more time and freedom at some of the sights.

Bokor Hill National Park is about 45 minutes drive from Kampot and accessed by a road which is perhaps the best road in Cambodia in terms of its condition and state. Domnak Sla Kmao was the first point of interest and set a prescedent for what was to come. I love to be able to roam around abandoned buildings which offer glimpses of yesteryear and this former royal residence was a good appetiser for what was to come.

DSC08317  DSC08318   Continue reading →

Posted in Asia Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments