Singapore Pt I: The Force Is Strong at Changi Airport

Posted on December 3, 2015 by tokyofox

The journey towards ‘The Force Awakens‘ began with #ForceFriday on September 4th and ever since then ‘Star Wars‘ commercial and marketing tie-ins with all kinds of products and places have been popping up around the world. One such example included the news a couple of weeks ago about two iconic starfighters docking at Singapore’s main airport. As a big Star Wars fan I really couldn’t believe my luck with our trip to the south-east Asian country on the horizon.

There is a Rebel Alliance X-wing fighter and an Empire TIE fighter currently exhibiting in a couple of the departure hall’s at Changi Airport which is located in the south-east corner of Singapore island. Thankfully, both are in public area’s so having landed at 6:30am last Friday morning we went upstairs to the departures area in terminal 2 where I looked for the TIE Fighter exhibit. It took me quite a while to find it but had I properly done my research, then I’d have known to just head over to check-in row 1.

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Moving In 2015

Posted on December 1, 2015 by tokyofox

Itabashi-ku has been the home of the all-new Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre since the start of October and so far it’s all been mostly good and our old place in Shinjuku-ku already seems such a long, long time ago! Of course it’s still early days but so far we are enjoying sunshine coming into the apartment each morning as well as a bit of wind going through it when we open the windows and doors. Neither really happened in our old place and sadly the walls became a bit mouldy but the new place is located in the corner of an apartment block facing the all-important south-west direction with two sizeable balconies.

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Posted in Family, Japan Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pain, Agony And Torture – My Week Of Hell

Posted on November 28, 2015 by tokyofox

You’d think that a week where Leicester City went top of the Premier League would be a good one but that wonderful achievement could only slightly mask what personally was a nightmare six days for me.

My tale began last Thursday (Oct 19th) when I was feeling tired so I sat back and closed my eyes  with my smartphone playing a podcast while it sat in my shirt pocket. I soon fell asleep and when my power nap ended 15-20 minutes later I had a terrible pain in my chest where the phone had been. I still have no idea what exactly the problem was but the phone must have overheated (with apps running and all that) and fried my body. Continue reading →

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Review: Films Inspired By Japan – Star Wars (1977)

Posted on November 25, 2015 by tokyofox

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For the average Star Wars fan this may come as a bit of a surprise but many Star Wars fanboys (and girls) and Japanophiles are aware of how much Star Wars was influenced by Japanese cinema and particularly the works of legendary director Akira Kurosawa.

Though some of the other Star Wars films and animated TV series’ include scenes, costumes and names inspired by Japan, the one that has been mostly influenced by Kurosawa’s samurai movies is the film that later went on to be retitled as ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope‘ but when originally released was simply called ‘Star Wars‘. Continue reading →

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On Screen #7 – Cambodia

Posted on November 22, 2015 by tokyofox

This south-east Asian country is one with such a troubled past so it is with a hint of embarrassment that my gateway to all things Cambodian came from a movie based on a popular video game. Yes, it was indeed ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider‘ (2001) which sparked my interest in Cambodia rather than any of the more serious pieces made about the Khmer Rouge.

When Cambodia first appears, Lara (Angelina Jolie) is parachuted down (in her Land Rover no less!) into Siem Reap on a mission to retrieve half of the triangular MacGuffin. Phnom Bakheng is where Lara begins her journey as she looks through her binoculars before driving off from outside Bayon temple in Angkor Thom. 

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Posted in Asia Travel, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Central Tokyo Temple Resembling A Spaceship!

Posted on November 19, 2015 by tokyofox

One of the most popular Tokyo Fox posts ever is ‘Music Video’s Filmed In Japan‘ and ever since it appeared in June 2014 people have been commenting on it to let me know of other promotional videos which were filmed in part in Japan. Recently, one kind lady sent me a long list of videos including the locations used and the time that they appear. Such detail that I was very happy to see included as it makes my job a lot easier! She mentioned that Reiyukai Shakaden was included in a couple of videos (below) by will.i.am and The Weeknd which bemused me as I’d never even heard of the place. I like to think that I know the sights of Tokyo reasonably well so how could such a place have been amiss from my radar?!

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TF Top 10……Star Wars Filming Locations

Posted on November 16, 2015 by tokyofox

When ‘The Force Awakens‘ hits cinema’s worldwide mid-December it will bring a 22 year wait to an end as the story of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, R2D2, C3P0 and so on continues. Of course there’s a brand new supporting cast alongside them who will no doubt take the story on from the legacy characters.

New filming locations include Skelling Michael in County Derry (Ireland), Abu Dhabi (UAE), New Mexico (USA), Greenham Common (UK), Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire (UK), Scotland and Iceland. I’ll hopefully visit them some day but for now it’s time to look back at the current pilgrimage sites which are essential for serious Star Wars fans to visit and truly feel the force.

Here then, in no particular order, are the Tokyo Fox top 10………Star Wars filming locations…

1. The Lars Homestead @ Sidi Driss Hotel (interior), Matmata and Chott el Djerid (exterior) (Tunisia) – ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope‘ (1977) & ‘Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones‘ (2002)

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The Process Of Becoming A Homeowner In Japan

Posted on November 13, 2015 by tokyofox

As reported in ‘Moving Out 2015‘ the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre has indeed found a new home and it’s back to Itabashi-ku that we go just over 2.5 years after I moved out of Kami Itabashi to move in with my other half .

No sooner had we come back from Cambodia and my wife had found this place online and after seeing it, the wheels were put in motion for us to purchase our first house. Naturally this was no simple process and this being Japan it was made (perhaps) even more complicated by all the administration and red tape that needs to be got round for such a transaction to take place. Of course this is one hell of a purchase and can’t just be done so easily but it always seems like such things take much longer in Japan. Continue reading →

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Review: Films Set In Japan – The Yakuza (1974)

Posted on November 10, 2015 by tokyofox

To mark the first anniversary of Japanese acting legend Ken Takakura passing away it is time for Tokyo Fox to look at ‘The Yakuza‘; one of his most memorable Hollywood film appearances which was directed by Sidney Pollack, and written by Paul Schrader of ‘Taxi Driver‘ (1976) fame.

In terms of casting, it is Robert Mitchum as Harry Kilmer who is the leading part but it really is Ken Takakura who is the star of the movie. The scriptwriters didn’t put too much effort in to his character name, Ken Tanaka; an honorific version of his yakuza personality. He made quite an impression and went on to become the “go-to-guy” when it came to needing an English speaking Japanese/Asian actor, and he had major parts in later movies like ‘Black Rain‘ (1988) and ‘Mr Baseball‘ (1992). Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: Ohara Training Ground In Saitama

Posted on November 8, 2015 by tokyofox

It’s probably fair to say that I have embraced Japanese football these last couple of years and the 2015 season has seen me take in a handful of live games in the likes of Hiroshima, Sapporo, Yokohama, Omiya, Urawa, Kashiwa and Tokyo and last week I had another J-soccer experience but this time it was a public training session rather than a match.

On Friday lunchtime I cycled from the all new Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Itabashi-ku to Akabane station where I took the train on up to Saitama Shintoshin station to meet up with Yuki who is actually the brother of the girl I met up with in Sapporo back in June. He has been one of my students for many years now and when we get the chance we often talk about football. For the last couple of months we have discussed going to watch a training session together and he got back to me a couple of weeks ago saying that a Friday session (my day off) had been announced on the club website.

The station isn’t too far away from the Nack5 Stadium in Omiya which I visited back in September with my friend Jack to see a J2 league game. However, this time we walked for about 15-20 minutes on a beautiful sunny Autumn afternoon to the Ohara Training Ground and took our place in the 200 or so seats provided for the fans.

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