England 2013 Pt IV: Home Sweet Home

Posted on August 23, 2013 by tokyofox

What better time to arrive home than on the afternoon of the Great Bowden & District Garden Society annual show! No sooner had I put my feet up to watch the Athletics on TV (below) and I was off down to the Village Hall to see a mix of flowers, cakes, jams, home-grown vegetables and a tombola showing off local village life at its best and something that my girlfriend (nor me!) probably couldn’t envisage. For £1 we could draw 5 or 6 tickets which if ending in 0 or 5 were winners. Between the four of us we managed to win a fair few prizes including bottles of alcohol, shampoo and soft drinks!

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The beautiful surrounding countryside as well as my parents garden was all very impressive for my girlfriend and after the excitement at Great Bowden Village Hall we took a short walk through the fields accessed over a bridge crossing the train line which runs through the village. I’ve never seen anyone so excited to see some cows in a field!

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A day trip to Stamford followed the next day culminating in a traditional home-made Sunday roast and crumble for pudding which was all very nice.

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It wasn’t actually till our third day back home that I showed my girlfriend the delights of Market Harborough town centre including the Old Grammar School above. Never have I spent so long in town (excluding drinking sessions!) as we went from shop to shop before I finally treated her to lunch (two meals for a bargain £6.99) at my old haunt ‘The Sugarloaf’ below.

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Foxton Locks is just a few miles out of town and is very much part of the tourist circuit for the few people that actually do more than just passing through the heart of rural England! I may have been fairly underwhelmed by the vast locks in Panama earlier this year but these locks are always a joy to behold having been a regular day out as a child whenever friends and family came to visit us in Market Harborough.

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Free to enter, this site is a unique 10 lock staircase that takes narrow boats up and down the 23 metre hill and has been around for just under 200 years. It is also famed for the  remains of its Inclined Plane boat lift which was originally built as a solution to various operational restrictions imposed by the lock flight. However, it wasn’t so successful and was only operational for a decade although there is some kind of campaign to fully restore the Plane.

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The Roebuck is a fairly new addition to the Harborough pub scene and so my girlfriend and I treated my parents to a slap-up pub meal (above) there in the evening.

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England 2013 Pt III: Stamford

Posted on August 20, 2013 by tokyofox

Keen to impress my girlfriend on her first trip to Great Britain, my parents and I thought that nearby Stamford might be a nice place to visit. This medieval town is actually located in Lincolnshire but is only about an hour away from my parents place in Leicestershire and is best known for its old timber framed buildings, medieval parish churches and 17th–18th century stone buildings which were very interesting as on closer look many of them were just your typical high street chains but without their usual eye-sore decor!

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Under-dressed in our Summer clothes we weren’t quite prepared for the cool weather (it did become sunny later on!) on the Sunday in August when we visited this very pleasant town which was lovely to roam around and a good warm-up for our visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon a couple of days later.

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The town is situated on the River Welland which is the same river that runs through my home town of Market Harborough and for that reason it holds many memories from my childhood. It was nice to see it in a different part of the country but didn’t quite feel the same!

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Daniel Lambert (below) is one of Leicester’s most cherished icons due in part to his huge size (he once tipped the scales at around 335 kilo’s) and for that reason a name which has been etched in my memory since hearing about him as a child when I recall sitting in his chair at a museum in Leicester. He actually didn’t eat or drink to excess and presumably died due to a glandular condition. He loved horse racing, which is why he was in Stamford when he died in June 1809 at what is now the upmarket hotel called The George. We had a quick look at this hotel which features some interesting information about this former gaol keeper (no, not goalkeeper which is how I first read it!) and animal breeder. When he kicked the bucket a window had to be taken out to extract his body and it took 20 men to lower his body into his grave in the churchyard.

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Our final stop in Stamford was Burghley house which has been portrayed on screen a few times. As well as featuring in the BBC TV adaptation of ‘Middlemarch‘ (1994) it has also starred in films like ‘Pride & Prejudice‘ (2005) and ‘The Da Vinci Code‘ (2006) with the latter being my main reason of interest for visiting. The interior of ‘Castel Gandolfo’ as well as Saunière’s retreat in the flashback scenes were filmed at this stately home. In the former it was used as ‘Rosings’; the palatial home of Lady Catherine de Bourg played by the legendary Dame Judi Dench. England’s greatest Elizabethan house is a hefty £12.70 to get into but its free to wander the vast area outside which is exactly what we did.

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Corby Asda is a place I used to visit with my school friends over 20 years ago as there was a free bus going there from Market Harborough. We used to take advantage of this to go and get the 99p English breakfast and visit InterSport to look at all the latest trainers as that was what we were heavily into back then. Both those things are no more but Asda is still standing and we all had dinner there at a nice, cheap price (my girlfriend loved her meal in this place which is quite a worry!) before wandering the huge supermarket chain. After that we had a brief, final photo stop at the 82 arch Welland Viaduct (below) which is the longest viaduct in Britain…or something like that!

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The fun definitely ended there as back in Market Harborough I took my girlfriend to ‘The Village Inn’ to watch Leicester against Leeds on Sky which ended 0-0 and was quite possibly the most boring game of football I’ve ever seen! Thank god I had decided against splashing out on a couple of tickets for the game which would have taken up far more of the day and would have meant forgoing the trip to Stamford.

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England 2013 Pt II: Starting Off In London

Posted on August 17, 2013 by tokyofox

Following a fairly rough and ever-lasting transit flight on the longest birthday ever (8/8) I was back in England with a whole one day to spend in the nations capital before heading back to my parents house. Of course I would be back in London later in the trip for a few more days but I was keen to do as many of the sights as possible as our return would include meeting up with a few people meaning less time on the tourist circuit.

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Waterloo station is always a good place to start any jaunt around London as it takes in many of the sights in quick succession. Starting with the London Eye, you then see the view across the River Thames to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (above) not to mention perennial tourist pleasers like double decker buses and black cabs. It was an ideal place to throw my girlfriend right into the heart of London and the temperature, as we walked across Westminster Bridge, was certainly different to the hot and humid conditions we’re accustomed to in Tokyo!

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We continued down Whitehall going past Horse Guards Parade (above) before encountering Nelson’s Column and Trafalgar Square (below) where we slipped inside the National Gallery for a very short time which was certainly not for a love of art but for something that will appear in a future Tokyo Fox blog entry!

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The most recent addition to Trafalgar Square is a giant French cock! Ah so many potential jokes in that but its actually a big blue cockerel (above) which had only recently been unveiled by London Mayor Boris Johnson on the square’s Fourth Plinth. We strolled on from there to Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square where we had lunch and I realised why British food maybe gets such a bad rap. Home cooking is very good BUT most tourists don’t encounter this and instead settle for paying over-the-top prices for simple food (burgers, pizza’s, pasta etc) outside the city’s attractions.

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After lunch we walked fairly aimlessly before ending up in Covent Garden and then on Oxford Street and by the time we had walked the length of that we were fairly tired and had to head back to my sisters house to have a birthday dinner at the ‘Bishop Out Of Residence’ pub in Kingston which sits on the banks of the Thames and has a good view of Kingston Bridge. No sooner had our London trip begun and it had been taken away from us as we had to return to my hometown the following morning but we would be back!

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England 2013 Pt I: “I Was George First”

Posted on August 14, 2013 by tokyofox

Having last seen my nephew George at the start of January last year when he was a nine month old baby I was very much looking forward to seeing him up and walking and talking when I stayed with my sister (his mother) and her husband for a few nights on my recent trip to London. I wasn’t really expecting him to know who the hell I was but surprised to know that he did actually know my name and boy did he like to use it! Not as much as his own name though as he can only speak in the third person for he hasn’t quite mastered his personal pronouns which are of course far easier to use!

When the name George was banded about as being the most likely name for the royal baby last month I was not happy as it would mean a period of connections and comparisons. I guess he doesn’t mind though as he’s no doubt getting a little bit more attention and of course it means that he get the chance (not that he knows it!) to wear such comical t-shirts like the one pictured below which his daddy bought him.

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George loves his trains and particularly Thomas the Tank Engine and seems to know just about all the dozens and dozens of other characters. Ever keen to be a popular uncle (I don’t have any competition!) I pounced on his train fascination with some purchases of transport stickers and a Shinkansen (bullet train) train set which came in three parts and cost a whopping 315 yen! Thankfully, he liked it and played with it a lot….until my mum and dad arrived a week later with a newer train!!

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Review: Films Set In Japan – The Wolverine (2013)

Posted on August 10, 2013 by tokyofox

Typical eh! You wait ages for a new film set in Japan to be released and then two come out at once! ‘Emperor‘ (2013) hit Japanese cinema screens on July 27th and this sixth installment in the X-Men film series had a worldwide release the day before that. Of course ‘The Wolverine‘ is yet to be shown on the big screen here but Tokyo Fox managed to get access to an exclusive pre-screening of it.

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Now before I start, I do have to say that I have never read any X-Men or Marvel comics so my knowledge of this character is perhaps more limited than others. However, I did do my homework beforehand in one sense as I watched the previous five X-Men films in anticipation of this release and my visit to the temple where the funeral scene was filmed. I can’t say that I was too enthralled by those movies but I was very much absorbed by the  Logan/Wolverine character and, unlike many others, I actually didn’t mind the 2009 ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘ film

‘Wolverine Samurai‘ as its titled here takes place after ‘X-Men: The Last Stand‘ (2011) and in a sense the movies opening storyline is very true to the heart of X-Men as the U.S. drops the bomb on Nagasaki in WWII. This particular event on 9th August, 1945 led to anxiety of the atom age breaking and the possibility of radiation and mutation affecting people. As  most of the soldiers commit suicide Logan saves a soldier named Yashida. Many years later, Yashida is a rich technology entrepreneur and still ever grateful for being saved, he invites Logan (via Yukio) to Japan because he’s dying from the radiation he was exposed to. He offers Logan the chance to become mortal if he promises to protect his grand-daughter, Mariko from the Yakuza. It’s an appealing offer for someone who feels his gift has been a bit of a curse recently.

Huge action star Hugh Jackman is always charming and charismatic in interviews and his portrayal of the ageless character is fantastic…. and a good job too as the film almost never leaves Wolverine’s side! Three female characters feature prominently with Yukio being the most interesting one; a ninja with the gift of seeing the future who acts as “bodyguard” to him as she calls it during the movie. Mariko (Tao Okamoto) was not so memorable for me and just a standard damsel in distress. The third is the venomous Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) who I didn’t really get into and thought she could have been utilised better.

I did find the film to include a few too many ninja fight scenes but I guess that’s what the kids want to see! Fights on top of moving trains have long been a feature of movies but the one on the bullet train from Ueno station was pretty exciting stuff not that any of the passenger extra’s seemed too bothered about all the destruction and devastation! What I did find of interest was the nod to a small scene in ‘Diamonds Are Forever‘ (1971) with someone being thrown over a high-rise balcony into a pool below by someone who didn’t know there was a pool there! Homage was also paid to Akira Kurosawa’s1957 film ‘Throne of Blood‘ (or is it just more a case of it not being too original lacking in ideas!) when the Wolverine is halted by the arrows of archers and turned into a pin-cushion.

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Japan is principally the backdrop for the majority of the flick with filming taking place at Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple as I revealed back in May but I should add that quite a few of the ‘Japan’ scenes were shot in New South Wales in Australia. Naturally, the cinematography was one of the films highlights for me in a film with plenty of plot loopholes and things that just don’t add up such as his memory but I guess you’ve gotta suspend belief a little bit when watching such films anyway. X-Men films always have a post credit scene and this one was no exception but I don’t really like these cheap ways of promoting the next film in the franchise with some vague ending.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

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Tokyo Daytripper: Ichikawa Zoo

Posted on August 7, 2013 by tokyofox

I’ve been on the lookout for things to do along the Sobu Line for a while now and when I came across a video on YouTube the other week about some cute otters at Ichikawa Zoo that place was planted in my mind. With the weather better than expected a couple of  weekends ago my girlfriend and I hopped on a train and travelled 40 minutes east to Ichikawa where we were gonna hook up with my mate Chris and his girlfriend Helen who had only just returned to Japan.

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Sadly I forgot to do my research in advance and just a few stops before Ichikawa we realised that the zoo wasn’t actually close to that station! Thankfully it didn’t bugger things up too much as it was just a few stops further on and a quick change to the Musashino Line (also JR) before we were at Ichikawa-ono which is the nearest station to the zoo. However, its still not within walking distance from there so the four of us jumped into a taxi and continued on to our destination. The cost was only 1000 yen so it wasn’t much more than the irregular bus service which is around 200 yen per person.

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We arrived at about 3.15pm and with the place closing at 4.30pm (last entry is at 4pm) we had enough time to go round everything at a leisurely pace rather than rushing round which is what I thought we may have had to do! The cost of entry is 420 yen for adults and 100 yen for children.

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The aforementioned YouTube video (which you can see here) brought this zoo to my attention with its cute otters getting into a bit of a traffic jam on their water-pipe-constructed play thing! It took a fair bit of waiting before they finally started playing and splashing on the water pipe (below) but was worth it. Up until then they had been just swimming around the other parts and sniffing the door and fence on dry land and Chris and I had actually crossed to the other side of the path to see some other animals before returning in time.

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Ichikawa is fairly small zoo and whilst it doesn’t have the usual favourite wild animals like tigers, lions and elephants it still has many other animals with the best thing for kids being the chance to get hands-on experience of touching and playing with a range of  domesticated animals.

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Personally, I’m a fan of the lesser Panda’s (above) and there’s a sizeable amount of those to see as well as a monkey area (below) known as saru-yama a.k.a. monkey mountain.

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There’s supposedly a couple of huge orang-utan’s but I only saw one and certainly didn’t get a good picture of whichever sex it was that was sitting around above.

There’s a mini shinkansen (bullet train) which costs 100 yen and goes round the mini park (below) which is a nice little area for one to rest among a couple of stagnant giraffes!

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For the record, the Municipal Museum of Natural History in Ichikawa (above) is also located within the zoo grounds but we didn’t really have any interest (or time!) in going inside.

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Review: Films Set In Japan – Emperor (2013)

Posted on August 4, 2013 by tokyofox

Do you see that year in the title? Yes, it is this year and indeed it’s the very present and a rare opportunity for Tokyo Fox to review an actual current release! In fact, this movie will not get a UK release date for a couple more months which is the opposite of what usually happens with any western movie production being released in Japan!

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However, as its a new film I don’t think its best to reveal too much in the way of plot spoilers even though you know the historical outcome! The storyline is a fairly easy one to follow with General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox) being hired by General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) to investigate Emperor Hirohito’s role during WWII and whether he should subsequently be tried as a war criminal.

Don’t be fooled by that synopsis though as ‘Emperor‘ is not a war movie as there are no battle scenes and instead it focuses on the aftermath of the war and the true price of peace. Naturally, with all western films about Japan there is also some stuff about cultural adaptation as Fox’s character gets to grips with Japanese attitudes towards conflict, and how they differ from those embraced by people in the west. His work is further complicated by his memories of a girl called Maya (Eriko Hatsune) who he fell in love with during his college days which we see via a series of flashbacks. Not only is he searching for a conclusion within a 10 day framework to the emperor’s situation but he’s also keen to trace his lost love. Searching for two different things sees some quite touching scenes and leads him to the chef (veteran actor Toshiyuki Nishida) from ‘The Ramen Girl‘ (2008) who shares his wisdom with him.

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Jones’ portrayal of MacArthur has been the topic of much debate but I didn’t really have a problem with it and indeed thought that his mannerisms in particular were seemingly captured very well. My problem was that, despite getting top billing, he doesn’t get enough  screen time for such an important figure. MacArthur’s opinion is that his job would be far easier if Hirohito stays as emperor as he believes that with no god-like figure the Japanese people will kill themselves en masse. The powers that be in Washington see things a bit differently!

The movie was filmed in Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand as well as Tokyo itself where I assume some scenes really were filmed in the vicinity of the Imperial Palace rather than being faked in a studio somewhere. Sugamo Prison even features which has long been replaced by the Sunshine 60 building in Ikebukuro which featured in my Tokyo’s Most Haunted Sights feature last year. The wartime devastation scenes are particularly impressive and overall the cinematography was pleasing and so it should be given the generous budget of the film!

Whilst I found ‘Emperor‘ quite intriguing due to my interest in such topic matter I do think that many neutral viewers may find it a bit slow not that I can really see it attracting much of a general audience. When I watched it one afternoon, the place was almost full of ojiisan and obaasan! It’s a dialogue driven film with some interesting scenery and the interwoven love subplot helps push the movie along as a decision of huge historical importance affecting all future relations between the US and Japan is ultimately decided.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

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Dining Out: I-Ran Out For Iranian Food After Watching ‘A Separation’

Posted on August 1, 2013 by tokyofox

Having just watched a foreign language flick I think most people might be tempted to go on and watch more films from that country or even book a trip to the place. The latter may usually be true for me but when the country we’re talking about is Iran it’s never gonna be that straightforward! I’ve heard great things about Iran actually, especially its people and would like to visit the country one day but for now I’ll have to settle for the next best thing. Having finally got round to watching ‘A Separation‘ (2011) I-ran out to get some ethnic cuisine as that’s the kind of persian I am!

One obvious restaurant springs to mind when it comes to Iranian restaurants in Tokyo and thats ‘Zakuro’ at 3-13-2 Nishi-Nippori. Back in 2011 I first went to this place on an  evening and slagged it off on here! That was more for my dislike of that kind of entertainment and that is still true but having returned their last year for lunch I decided it was a great place for food which kind of got forgotten about in my original entry. More on the food later.

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Now, despite all the film-related stuff here on Tokyo Fox, I really am not a film buff but I do enjoy watching foreign language movies from time to time. ‘A Separation‘ (2011) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012 and its beauty lies with the fact that the tension and drama remains throughout without any need to resort the more commonly used gimmicks of western cinema.

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It is a sad truth that most people from English-speaking countries just will not watch foreign language films when they go to the cinema or rent a dvd. Having to actually read the subtitles in order to really understand what’s going on is one basic reason why. It’s also been suggested that subtitles require more attention and take away the viewers concentration of the action in part. Movie-goers seem to be ok with small segments of the films they watch being subtitled but it seems at times that it’s only really the film buffs who enjoy good movies whether they are subtitled or not.

The brilliant and very tense ‘Argo‘ (2012) was a three-time Academy Award winner in 2012 and having also re-watched this on dvd the other day, Iran was definitely lurking in the back of my mind somewhere. As a movie locations geek I should add that the bazaar wasn’t really in Iran but was instead the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul which also featured in ‘Skyfall‘ and ‘Taken 2‘ last year.

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That links me nicely back to Zakuro which is actually a mix of Iranian and Turkish food as well as also including some Uzbekistani cuisine too. The lunch set is a bargain 1000 yen and includes daily juice, daily kebab, soup, rice, nan, tea, Iran pasta and and a load more dishes which I struggle to recall.

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Sitting on Persian rugs which cover the floor your table is also at ground level and fairly quickly fills up as the staff bring you dish after dish as well as a Turkish fez hat!

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Having been here a few times now it really can be a bit hit or miss. Every time you go to this place the menu is a little different which is no doubt a good thing but when I took my girlfriend here recently for her maiden visit the service was a little lacking and we did get forgotten about a bit after the initial outlay of dishes given to us which it has to be said is fairly impressive. Its just that on my previous visit I was constantly inundated with extra dishes and other little bite-sized nibbles which are passed round by the waiters.

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Funnyman owner Ali is a bit of a character who usually works hard to entertain the diners, particularly the larger groups, and create a communal atmosphere in the place. Sadly, he wasn’t around so much for this recent visit which may be why it wasn’t quite up to scratch. Still, I shall definitely return again one day.

Posted in Films, Food & Drink, Middle East Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tokyo Daytripper: Top 10 Kanagawa Sights

Posted on July 29, 2013 by tokyofox

Of Tokyo’s three surrounding prefectures it’s fair to say that Kanagawa offers some of the better attractions for day trips from the capital and so this list was certainly easier to compile than the Top 10 Saitama Sights and the Top 10 Chiba Sights. However, it should be understood that there’s far more to this area than just Yokohama which is of course included.

Here then, in no particular order, are my top ten things to do in Kanagawa featuring a mix of famous sights and some hidden gems too.

1. Nihon Minka-en – A unique museum as visitors get a rare opportunity to walk through and experience ancient Edo period style architecture first hand. This folk village (below) has been reconstructed to feature a variety of buildings such as farmhouses, a water mill, a kabuki stage, a ferryman’s hut and an exhibition hall. More details here.

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2. Sarushima – The naval port city of Yokosuka is the gateway to this island. Sarushima a.k.a. Monkey Island (below) consists of a small black sand beach at one end packed full of day trippers having barbecues while the rest of the tiny island consists of vegetation surrounding the brick lined WWII tunnels and the remains of artillery positions. But are there actually any monkeys?! More details here.

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3. Enoshima – The black sand is certainly not the best, the water isn’t the clearest but there’s a charm about this place (below) and its island (connected by a bridge) is definitely worth a wander before or after the beach. The glass tower in the gardens towers above the island and is reminiscent of Scaramaga’s lair in a 007 movie! More details here.

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4. Yomiuri Land – Old fashioned theme park (below) with a standing roller-coaster (with a loop), a spaghetti-type wooden roller-coaster, a bungy jumping area and a huge floating rapid water-ride. A great day out in the sun. More details here.

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5. Kamakura – Perhaps one of the most famous day trips for tourists to do whilst visiting Tokyo. There are about 70 shrines and temples which is fine if you like that kind of thing. If you don’t, then the hiking trail from Jochi-ji temple to the 13.35 metres tall Great Buddha (below) is a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. More details here.

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6. The Penis Festival  – Yes, you read that correctly. More formally known as Kanamara Matsuri (below) this is the quintessential quirky festival to attend on the first Sunday each April.  More details here.

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7. Shomyoji Temple –  Faded red bridges, murky brown water full of turtles and temple buildings fringed by some lush green vegetation covering hills which make a nice, simple hike with some fine views of Yokohama’s landscape. More important than all of that, it featured in a Manic Street Preachers music video! More details here.

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8. Hakone – This place (below) may reek a bit of conveyor-belt tourism with everyone doing the same loop through the region on all manner of transport modes but if you get lucky with the weather (I never have!) then some picture-postcard views of Mount Fuji are reward for your efforts. More details here.

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9. Yokohama – Japan’s second largest city (below) has a far more continental feel about it and some actual room to breathe! A much nicer place to roam than most of Tokyo’s most famous districts. Attractions deserve a blog entry of their own (now there’s an idea!) and include Chinatown, Yamashita-koen, Cosmo World, the Ramen Museum, Nissan Stadium and the Landmark Tower. More details here.

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10. Sankei-en Gardens – Picturesque landscaped gardens (below) with walking paths around ponds  as well as some traditional tea houses and a pagoda. More details here.

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Bonus: Kurihama Hana-no-kuni (Kurihama Flower World) a.k.a. Gojira-koen – Amidst the lush, green scenery of this park there is also a huge Godzilla statue that doubles up as a kids slide. More details here

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Posted in Japan Filming Locations, Japan Travel, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Watching Urawa Reds vs Arsenal In The Saitama Challenge Cup Final

Posted on July 26, 2013 by tokyofox

Friendlies are, and always have been fairly pointless games to watch. I have known this for a long, long time but that hasn’t usually stopped me from going to watch these games but an absence of football in the Summer can do strange things to the mind! The big game this weekend is of course Leicester City against big-spending Monaco but as that match was taking place nearly 6000 miles away I decided to plump for a closer one.

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With Arsenal in town for the Saitama Challenge Cup Final against Urawa Reds, myself and Yuji got tickets for this one as I thought it would be Continue reading →

Posted in Japan Life, Leicester City, Sport | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments