The first Grand Slam of the 2015 tennis season has concluded and we’ve witnessed two fantastic finals contested by four great players but ultimately it was Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic who deservedly reigned supreme against Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray respectively. As a fellow Brit I was naturally rooting for Murray in a final which was so closely fought in the first two sets in particular. One other guy I’ve been following quite closely at the Australian Open has been Japan’s Kei Nishikori and at one stage I was even thinking the U.S. Open finalist may get to the final for a rare face-off against Murray. However, he fell a little short this time round and lost in straight sets in the quarter finals.
Nishikori is very much part of modern-day tennis in Japan and one might think the sport is relatively new to these shores but it actually has a history dating back way over a hundred years. The ridiculously named Ariake Collosseum in Odaiba may be the contemporary heart of Japanese tennis as that’s where the major Japan tournaments on the seasons calendar take place. However, the true origins of tennis belong in Yokohama and whilst my wife and I were wandering the bluff area last December we came across the small Yamate Museum of Tennis.
Entry is free and one of the first things to catch my eye was the Wimbledon ladies Championship brass replica plate which was won a record nine times by Martina Navratilova (USA) but was last won by a Brit in 1977 when Virginia Wade won it.
There is a section showing the history of women’s tennis attire explaining the evolution of the outfits from long skirts and hard collar blouses with ribbons on their sleeves and flower-decorated bonnets (end of 19th century) to rolled up sleeves (1904) and sleeveless one piece dresses and bandanas (1919). All very different and a world apart from the modern era where shorts skirts, all-in-one spandex catsuits, visible knickers, exposed midriffs, lace dresses and so on have donned the courts.
The museum also explains about the popularisation of tennis in Yokohama and its growth around Japan. In 1878 the land in Yamate park was leased to Ladies Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on the condition that they manage the park in lieu of residents and things have run smoothly ever since then.
Around 1300 foreigners were living in the area towards the end of the 19th century when the tennis club opened. The majority were English with a fair few Americans and some French and Germans too. According to one of the signboards in the museum, playing tennis and chatting over a cup of tea in Yamate Park was a great pleasure for these foreign ladies living abroad.
After the war, Yamate Park was requisitioned by the U.S. occupation forces but returned in 1952 and 12 years later the club started to accept Japanese members eventually leading to the park being returned to the local citizens as a place of international friendship.
Displays of balls and racquets through the ages take up the majority of the space and for a tennis fan it was interesting and pretty comical to see the old-style wooden racquets and the balls which they played with way back in history.
Visiting Japan’s second largest city just to visit this museum is probably a step too far but combined with a day or two in Yokohama it may be worth a little detour and the rest of the Yamate area is definitely deserving of your time.
You can read about my trips to watch the Toray Pan Pacific tournaments in Tokyo by clicking on the following links:
A Tour Of The BBC Radio Leicester Studios And Watching The Football Forum Show
As a lover of the wireless, the highlight of my trip into Leicester earlier this year came when I popped into the BBC Radio Leicester studios which are located at 9 St Nicholas Place adjacent to the medieval Guildhall and Leicester Cathedral as featured in my ‘Sightseeing In Leicester‘ post last month. Following a text conversation with the station’s football commentator Ian Stringer around the New Years period I was invited to see the studios as he knew I was a bit of a radio geek.
Naturally I jumped at the chance as it would fit in well with the other stuff I had to do in the city and so I agreed to meet him at 3pm for a studio tour of the station which my parents are avid listeners of. Ian was in Tokyo last February to run the marathon and we hung out a fair bit during his time in the capital and he kindly let me interview him for the inaugural Tokyo FoxCast podcast. (The second podcast is still in the pipeline!!)
Right on the dot he appeared and greeted me (the only person who calls me Tokyo Fox in person!) and took me on a 30 minute tour starting of course with the main two studios which are used for the daily output on the station. I got to sit in the main hotseat at the control desk and where the guests sit whilst he showed me what some of the knobs, buttons and faders do. Very exciting stuff for me!
Other things which I got to see included the outdoor broadcast vehicles, the newsroom, the record library, the unused studios vacated by the Asian Network (which used to share the building) and the staff office where I met Jason Bourne (no, not that one!) and Political reporter Tim Parker who I spoke to for quite a while as he previously lived and worked in Japan. I even tried on his BBC jacket which probably saw me reach optimum level of nerdiness!
What seemed to be very apparent from my time at the studios is the protocol and procedure to follow if (when?!) the Queen eventually departs this world. There are notices everywhere stating what should and shouldn’t be done in the case of that happening.
Ian had to do the preparation needed for that evenings Football Forum show so there wasn’t too much time to hang out but as I was leaving I asked about meeting ex- Leicester City captain Matt Elliott, who is the regular expert guest on the show, and he said that if I came back later he’d let me in to meet the former foxes legend.
(You can read more about when I met Matt Elliott here)
Having killed two hours in the City centre I headed back to the reception area where I waited patiently whilst watching legendary Radio Leicester presenter Ben Jackson present the teatime show through the window when one of my City heroes arrived. I had a quick word with Ben when he came off air and, like everyone else at the station, he was very friendly and nice to speak to.
Earlier in the day I had bumped into Jonathan Lampon (who was the presenter on the breakfast show back then that played out the interview Ian did with me at Meiji Shrine) by chance. I arrived a bit early so was just smartening myself up in the window of an empty shop a few doors along when I saw him appear in my reflection. I ran after him and introduced myself as we had never ever met despite the odd bit of communication here and there on Twitter. I thanked him for reading out a fair few of my tweets last year as well as the dedication he kindly read out on our wedding day back in July.
I wasn’t actually expecting to hang around for the the Monday night Football Forum (which airs between 6-7pm) but Ian said it was fine to do so and so I watched the whole show through the glass in the bit where Jason and fellow Broadcast Journalist Namrata (who also works on the programme from time to time) sit. This was a little bit surreal at times but I really liked it and was really pumped for it from the moment I heard the Kasabian theme tune (‘Eez-eh‘) kick the show off at 6:05pm. The content of the show included post-analysis of the FA Cup win over Newcastle, a few callers and some interviews with experts about potential new signings in the transfer window.
Jason was very kind to me and showed me stuff like the running order, script and the incoming tweets and texts on his computer. I was actually expecting a few more people like producers and broadcast assistants to be around but there was only five of us in the whole building whilst it was on air.
I had a quick word with the guys once the show went off air at 7pm, got some photos with them and left the place shortly after that and was buzzing as I made my way back to the station and headed home.