Imagine leaving your familiar surroundings of home to visit a country where you’re slightly consumed with uncertainty and having a radio fanboy constantly asking you questions about players you’ve interviewed or people you work with. Well that was the case for Radio Leicester’s Ian Stringer this last week as he had to put up with me guiding him round for a few days!!
The legendary voice of Leicester City games (500+ live matches under his belt now) on the BBC was in town very recently and Tokyo Fox had the privileged position of being in charge of most of his itinerary not counting the Tokyo Marathon which was of course his main reason for being here!!
Anyone who read the last entry will know that we met at Harajuku station and moved on to Meiji Shrine which was where we did the report for the BBC Radio Leicester breakfast show. As I eluded to in that interview we would be going on to Harajuku’s Takeshita-dori and on towards Shibuya and the impressive scramble-crossing which I enthused about in a manner which took me by surprise! This place rarely fails to amaze first-timers and for me is still the number one thing to witness in Tokyo.
Once we’d looked around a few shops (Tokyo Hands, Kamo Soccer Shop and Don Qixote) it was time for a spot of classic conveyor-belt sushi lunch. Things weren’t that straightforward though as Ian’s pre-marathon diet (known as the Palio diet) of no sugar, no bread, no potatoes, no noodles and no rice meant that his sushi was more like sashimi! Still, it meant more rice for me!!
At night Shinjuku’s Yasukuni-dori is an awe-inspiring spectacle of vibrant colours amid the cluster of high rise buildings full of restaurants and bars. The view has featured in so many movies and TV programmes over the years and I guess its become the classic shot (alongside Shibuya crossing) of the neon lights of Tokyo really hitting the foreigner visiting these shores. That was certainly the case for Ian who loved this area and of course many pictures were taken of this area when we reconvened later that evening for a quick wander around the Kabukicho area followed by a a few meat dishes in a couple of a Japanese-style bars.
Nezu jinja Shrine (below) is quite famous for Japanese people but less so for tourists so it was quite nice to go somewhere away from the crowds. I thought this place would be quite good for its mix of serenity, bright red torii gates and the fox deities which guard the place. Believe me, there are not many fox connections in Tokyo so such tenuous links were all we could find though there would still be one more! After walking back through Ueno Park we took a train a couple of stops down the Yamanote line to Akihabara which is famous for its electric town, otaku culture and maid cafes!!
@home cafe is a place I’ve been to a few times over the years when I’ve had guests visit and is usually one I relish as it tends to put the person I’m with so far out of their comfort zone. Ian was most taken aback that a maid was playing Connect 4 with a customer and the ‘moe‘ hand action movement and song you have to do when your drink is served was bizarre to say the least. No visit to one of these places is complete without a polaroid photo with one of the maids and at 6ft 3 he got a lot of reaction from the maids and even when on his knees he was still pretty much the same height as the maid he was photographed with! (For some reason his photograph has the wrong date on it!)
As for that fox reference I promised you earlier, that was on the overly sugar-concentrated drink I ordered. Usually they use the chocolate sauce to draw cats in your drink but I demanded kitsune (fox) and you can judge for yourself how good it is!
The worlds busiest transport hub is Shinjuku station and that was where we began our third and final day together. Sadly we were a bit too late, and on the wrong side of the gates, to see the tidal wave of humanity pouring onto its trains during rush hour. The main reason for meeting in Shinjuku was to take him up the Metropolitan Government Building which was a good idea as thats exactly where the Marathon would be starting two days later. He’d already been up the Tokyo Sky Tree on his first day so he’d witnessed the wall-to-wall concrete skyline that goes well beyond Tokyo’s borders. These two-towers in Shinjuku are 202 metres high and the observation deck on the 45th floor of each tower has a souvenir shop (as one may expect) which is quite good.
Gonpachi in Nishi-Azabu is perhaps more famously known as the ‘Kill Bill‘ restaurant as it served as the inspiration for the ‘House of Blue Leaves’ in Tarantino’s 2004 film. That would be our final stop but a memorable one and one that he really loved. I’m glad to report that the free salad bar is back (it wasn’t there the last time I went but was the first time) and this place is very cosmopolitan now with many foreigners among the chefs and waiters as well as the customers too!
I’d warned him a couple of days before that I wanted to turn the tables on him and interview him for Tokyo Fox which he gladly accepted and we did that amid the atmospheric shamisen background music sounds of this very nice, cavernous, rustic-themed place.
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 
TF Interview…..With Football Commentator Ian Stringer
Following the soaring success of the last TF interview with author Tim Andrewartha its about time for another one. Whilst in the legendary Gonpachi (a.k.a. the ‘Kill-Bill’ place) restaurant in Nishi-Azabu I sat down with BBC Radio Leicester’s football commentator Ian Stringer. Having been interviewed by him at Meiji Shrine a couple of days earlier for a feature on the stations breakfast show I decided to turn the tables on him and probe him about his thoughts on Japan, Leicester City and commentating.
N.B. This is just a condensed sample of the interview. If you want to hear the full interview then its available as a podcast on iTunes. Click here to get it for FREE!
So what brings you to Tokyo Ian? The Tokyo Marathon is why I’m here. I’m taking part on Sunday for the Leicester baby loss appeal. (You can donate here). It’s one of the six world marathons and a relatively new addition to the marathon scene and Tokyo’s where I wanted to go.
And what’s the backstory on your Marathon stuff I started in 2012. I ran my first marathon in London for the Leicester City Foxes Foundation; Alan Birchenal’s one in a million appeal. He convinced me I should give it a go so I did. I raised a few quid for the foundation, I think it was 19 grand. I got bitten by the marathon bug after that so that year I ran in London, Windermere, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Bangkok and then the following year a few more. It’s just a personal thing. I started in 2012 so I’m still relatively young in my marathon running experience.
You’ve clocked up a fair few there! Yeah that’s 8 and it will be 9 if I finish the Tokyo one which I hope so!
I can see you have a very interesting diet so can you tell us a bit more about it? It’s kind of a Palio diet really. I’m not eating potatoes, bread or grains so lots of meat, vegetables and fruit, a bit of dairy but no refined carbohydrates because of the way in which they’re digested. Certainly no sugar! I’ve had no sugar for the last four months and its going well but the Tokyo marathon will be the first time I’ve tried to run the marathon without the aid of sugar.
What are your impressions so far of Japan ? Well I’m basing my impressions on a visit to the capital city of course as I’ve not been anywhere other than Tokyo but I love it, absolutely love it. I adore the place. Its clean, incredibly efficient and seems crime-free. I think I’ve seen one police car in four days. I’ve not seen any litter. Trains are on time. There’s somebody looking after every job. Everyone takes pride in what they do. The food is magnificent. We’re sat in a restaurant now where a guy has cooked me on open coals a fish which I imagine wasn’t caught too long ago. So everything’s been positive so far. It’s a wonderful city. I’ve met some wonderful people, (seen some) incredible views and I’m very fortunate to even be here…and of course I’ve met the Tokyo Fox!!
How did your Leicester City story begin as a fan? Where did you used to sit or stand? My dad took me to my first game when I was three and we’d go down to Filbert Street a couple of times a season. My first experience was in the Double Decker (stand) but from the age of, probably seven, I was in the Kop, in pen 4. I was pushed down to the front by my dad. He stood at the back with his friends. I was mascot when I was ten, away at Wolves. We lost 2-1. Colin Gibson scored the goal of the season but Steve Bull scored twice; the first one before I’d even got out of the changing room! So mascot, season ticket holder, member, Junior Fox, visits to Wembley more times than I can remember so very early I fell in love with the club because my dad forced me to but when its a club like Leicester City you rely on your offspring being the future of your club and thats certainly the way with my little boy.
So how about a time when you think you called it to perfection. …in terms of goals away at Leeds was an important goal. Nugent scored with four minutes to go and I feel I got that one right. We actually have a commentary coach; a guy called Rob Noffman who works for 5 Live and he gives us some very formulaic insights into our commentary. He’ll listen to our 90 minutes and tally how many times you say the score, the time, identify the station and he’ll also mark you on how you can beat the crowd to an incident so when a shot comes in if you hear the crowd go “ooooh” you kind of don’t need to say whats happened because people know. Its too late. Now I’ve got the advantage of having the speed of sound on my side so we’re marked and assessed on whether we can beat that and be on top of the goals and say where was the ball, who scored, how long to go and encapsulate what your audience will be feeling at local level when that goes in. National level as well but when its international football Mike Ingham calling an England goal will have a degree of partisan approach to the commentary whereas if it was Fulham v Arsenal he’ll be relatively balanced for a goal but its knowing your audience and calling it right at that time, there and then.
What’s criticisms are labelled at you or the radio coverage and whats your response? Twitter is an interesting place to gain information but remember that its only a certain proportion of your audience who are tuned into social media. The masses will listen and potentially enjoy…..silently. I mean how many people write into ‘Top Gear‘ and say great show, well done, keep going! You don’t do you?! You’ve got to assume that you’ll have some happy customers given the listening figures at the moment are very, very good. Negatives are some people don’t like certain elements. There are purists out there who believe that they should know where the ball is every second of the game.
Which City players would be in your all-time XI and you don’t need to name the whole team! Kasey Keller was a very good goalkeeper and Kasper Schmeichel is a fine goalkeeper too. Simon Grayson will live long in the memory. Steve Walsh and Matt Elliott defensively. Mancini would be in there. Neil Lennon. Muzzy Izzet. Steve Claridge is my favourite Leicester player ever so my front pairing would probably be Lineker and Claridge.
What’s the most famous number or contact you have in your phone? Maybe Sven. Gary Lineker maybe. Those two will do for now!
Who are your favourite commentators on TV and radio? I’m a big fan of Simon Brotherton. He’s on top of everything. He calls the action very, very well. I admire the pace in his voice. Your job is to convince people that at that second they should be turning their radio up by changing your pace and pitch and allowing the listener to sit on the edge of the seat and feel for their volume control and up it because something could happen and I think Brotherton does that very well. Obviously Mike Ingham and Alan Green are the BBC’s top guys but then you can’t look past Ian Darke, Alan Parry and Jon Champion. There’s an awful lot out there. Darren Fletcher. I think he’s a very good commentator. I like him a lot and he’s brilliant on 6-0-6.
Is there another sport you’d like to try your hand at in terms of commentating on it? Sumo!! The temptation of course is to say Formula 1 because of the glamour attached but I’d probably say that at the minute with Andy Murray’s strong position in the tennis world it would be a real blessing to follow him around the world. Likewise, Justin Rose is probably in the peak of his career right now. Can you imagine calling a Ryder Cup putt?
I think many people think you and our manager Nigel Pearson hate each other. I don’t believe that so what’s going on when the mic’s not on? Nigel and I get on really well. He’s very guarded as an individual, not just with us. He’ll never come out with soundbites like Ian Holloway! Always a handshake pre and post-interview and usually a whack on the back! There was one at Birmingham the other day when we were talking about Jack Hobbs and he’d been linked with the club and I knew it was ‘agent-talk’ but we’ve gotta ask it and he played the game and said he wasn’t sure about that and that he didn’t comment on speculation. I said “well you could end the speculation by telling us” and afterwards it sounded really frosty but he gave me a massive whack on the back with a huge smile as he walked off and he winked as if to say “I’m playing the game.” He’s a man of principle, honour and trust and he’s a man who, as a journalist, you’ve gotta do your ground work with. I don’t think we have a bad relationship. I think we have a good solid working relationship and I have to say he’s one of the best football managers Leicester City have had.
If you could choose any guest to have on the Football Forum (Monday’s 6-7pm) who would it be? It would be Martin O’Neill because I think our audience would enjoy it. You can’t pick your guests on who you individually want. I think he’d be desired by our audience. I think he’d make an incredible guest and I’d love to get him on. He’d offer great insight so maybe one day!
Ian did of course complete the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday 23rd February. His time was 3 hours 55 minutes. Congratulations to him for all his efforts and for allowing Tokyo Fox to interview him.