Cycling Tokyo’s Most Haunted Sights…In One Day Pt II

Posted on October 16, 2012 by tokyofox

You can read ‘Cycling Tokyo’s Most Haunted Sights…In One Day Pt I’ here

7) Masakado’s Grave – Tucked away between a couple of large buildings in Otemachi (1-2-1 Otemachi in Chiyoda-ku to be exact) this is the grave for Taira no Masakado (903-940AD) who is considered to be Japan’s very first samurai. This minor but successful warlord had his head decapitated and it seems his final resting place is here as attempts to have moved it have resulted in accidents or deaths for the construction workers involved. It may be a tiny area but in the time I was there a steady stream of visitors came by the place which is surrounded by a load of stone frogs and owls though I don’t know why!

 

8) Tokyo Tower – This was an optional extra as I have seen the tower many times (though never been inside or up it) but as I was so close I made a quick photo stop. It was built in 1958 and is frequently visited by a little girl ghost who has been spotted many times.

9) Yureizaka (Ghost Street) – Not exactly easy to find but armed only with the fact that it was in Mita 4-chome I managed to track it down. Kind of interesting in that it really isn’t interesting at all! It’s a steep street by Tokyo standards and I rode down it and sensed it could be used well in a horror movie and it does have a temple and graveyard halfway down. The address at the top is Mita 4-12 and at the bottom its Mita 4-6.

     

10) Sengakuji Temple – Been here a few times now, usually as part of one of these cycling tours of Tokyo and though it isn’t too special to look at it does have a deep history. It can be found at 2-11-1 Takanawa, Minato-ku and is the burial ground of 47 loyal samurai who avenged their leader by raiding the chief instigators castle where they ruthlessly and violently beheaded him. Their following collective action was to commit suicide which was seen as an honour.

 

11) Suzugamori Execution Grounds – By far the most isolated of the locations and was actually 20 mins further on down the road from Shinagawa station. Some 150,000 people were killed here between 1651 and 1871. It is along the old Tokaido Road in Minami Ooi 2-chome and is on the corner of the turn off for Oi Horse Race Track. Shinagawa Aquarium is nearby and thats as precise as I can be regarding its location.

     

12) Aoyama Reien (cemetry) – Whilst googling this as part of my research I discovered that Shibuya icon Hachiko was buried here. Hachiko is the dog who used to meet his owner, Professor Ueno after work every night and continued to wait for him for a further nine years after his master had died. Whilst everyone knows of the dog statue in Shibuya not so many know of the memorial to the Professor’s faithful dog as well as his own grave. It can be found in area 6 #12 and is the 3rd left lane once you leave the main office. Naturally you’re probably thinking that this is a bit too much of a nice story to be in an article about haunted spots in Tokyo and you’re right. However, the cemetery itself is a place where ghosts are frequently seen at night.

 

13) Sendagaya Tunnel – Located next to the haunted Victor Studio in Sendagaya 2-chome this tunnel is beneath a cemetery and is where a long-haired female ghost is reported to often hang upside down from the ceiling and even fall on some cars.

 

14) Oiwa Inari Tamiya Jinja – Another one I stumbled upon by chance in Yotsuya which was my fault as I had misread the address as Samoncho 7 when it is actually Samoncho 17. Luckily I recognised it from my research. The story goes that Lady Oiwa was poisoned by her husband centuries ago and her ghost came back to haunt him and it supposedly still roams the streets of Yotsuya today. I didn’t come across the lady with dishevelled hair and drooping eye.

     

15) Taisoji Temple – Sadly I arrived here too late in the day to see the huge statue of Enma Daio (a.k.a. King Yama); the Judge of the Underworld. He is supposedly the first entity which souls encounter after death as he and his henchwoman determine the exact level of sinfulness. 2-9-2 Shinjuku is the address where this temple can be found.

 

Having started just after 7.30am it was nearly 5.30pm when I finally finished what was a much longer and harder challenge than I expected. Can’t say I was remotely spooked by anything that I encountered but nevertheless I enjoyed the experience and actually learned a fair bit about Japanese folklore in the process.

Distance: 85.5 km   Time: 9.51 hrs   Calories Burned: 3598

Thanks to the following: cnngo.com; japanletsgo.com; tokyoblog and Metropolis.co.jp

Posted in Cycling, Japan Life, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Cycling Tokyo’s Most Haunted Sights…In One Day Pt I

Posted on October 13, 2012 by tokyofox

“Japan is a safety country” is a common phrase uttered by students and grammatical errors aside it is fairly true regarding the people but not so valid given the high amount of earthquakes, typhoons and other natural phenomena. On top of this there are also many stories, rumours and myths about Tokyo being inhabited by folklore creatures, ghosts, gods and other such evil spirits. Unable to run because of a bad leg and feeling in need of some exercise I thought it was time for another bicycle ride around Tokyo visiting all these places in a single day. The perfect way to get into the Halloween spirit.

1) Sunshine 60 – The 60-storey skyscraper part of Sunshine City at 3-1-1 Higashi Ikebukuro was built on the grounds of the destroyed Sugamo Prison which held senior war criminals and was where a former Prime Minister was hanged. Inevitably in modern folklore the area is supposed to be haunted.

2) Sougenji Temple a.k.a. Kappa-dera Temple is at 3-7-2 Matsugaya in Taito-ku and is dedicated to these bipedal, turtle-like aquatic goblins who have been known to grab children crossing bridges and drown them. This temple was built to appease the many kappa creatures in the area and the altar has offerings of cucumbers for them which is their favourite food. If you’ve ever had kappamaki in a sushi restaurant you now know how the cucumber sushi roll gets its name.

 

Kappa’s have a bowl-like dent on the top of their head which must be kept full of water for them to survive so if you see a real one be sure to bow to it and they will be obliged to bow back in return thereby killing themselves.

     

3) Akiba Daigongen – I had pretty much given up on this until I stumbled on it by accident. It’s not too far from the Kappa temple and is at 3-10-7 Matsugaya though it did used to be in Akihabara (or Akiba as the ‘otaku’ (geeks) prefer to call it) a long, long time ago. Akiba Daigongen, a powerful Buddhist deity associated with fire, is said to watch over the area.

 

4) Chingodo – This is part of the Sensoji temple complex at 2-3-1 Asakusa in Taito-ku and is home to the Tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog). These funny-looking creatures from Japanese folklore are famed for their massive b*llocks which can, believe it or not be fashioned into makeshift disguises, tools and weapons though god knows how that works exactly! Tanuki are symbols of good luck as kintama (testicles) can literally be translated as golden balls. Like the kappa-dera temple, this place was also built to appease these troublemakers who are supposedly resting on their over-sized balls in the picture below.

 

5) Ubaga-ike (Old Hag’s Pond) – Yet another Taito-ward location and this one can be found at 2-4-15 Hanakawado. An interesting story this one as a wicked innkeeper from the 7th century tricked guests into sleeping in a room with a boulder hidden in the rafters which would fall on their heads while they were sleeping thereby killing them and giving her the chance to rob them. However, one night things went wrong and her daughter was killed and the evil innkeeper dumped her body in the pond which is now somewhat strangely located next to a children’s playground. This story has inspired kabuki plays and a horror film and naturally the site still harbours the spirits.

 

6) Ireido (Hall of Repose) – In the midst of Yokoami-cho Park is this Buddhist style hall which is a memorial to those unidentified people who died in the Great Kanto Earthquake and the bombing of Tokyo in WWII. It was built to calm the souls of those victims and its address is 2-3-25 Yokaimi, Sumida-ku.

 

Cycling Tokyo’s Most Haunted Sights…In One Day Pt II can be read here

Posted in Cycling, Japan Life, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Review: Films Set In Japan – You Only Live Twice (1967)

Posted on October 10, 2012 by tokyofox

After a gap of four years the 23rd James Bond film ‘Sky Fall‘ is nearly here, 50 years since the release of ‘Dr No‘ starring Sean Connery. The Scot went on to make six official 007 films (plus non-Eon Bond film ‘Never Say Never Again‘) with my favourite being ‘You Only Live Twice‘ in 1967 which is partly responsible for my filming locations fascination and the inspiration for me going on to watch many more international films set in Japan thereby leading to this series of reviews on the subject.

This was the first film I remember watching which offered an insight into the country that has been my home for many years now. From the haunting but beautiful sweeping sounds of Nancy Sinatra’s soundtrack to the exotic oriental locations this film really does develop a flavour for Japan with its beautiful women, emerging technology and ancient customs.

  

The stakes are high in this film with the threat of World War III. The catalyst for this threat comes after a spacecraft is hijacked which sees both America and Russia blame each other. British Intelligence discover that an Unidentified Flying Object went down into the seas of Japan and so agent 007 is despatched to the Far East. Not wanting him to be distracted by old enemies under such pressure and time constraints Bond’s death is faked.

Bond forms an alliance with Tiger Tanaka, the Head of the Japanese Secret Service who many years later would reappear in the 007 novel ‘The Man With The Red Tattoo‘ which I finally read last year. Naturally, Tiger’s competent agent is a female called Aki who Bond gets together with before she goes the way of so many other Bond girls. But thats ok as she is easily replaced a short time later with another girl….or two!

As ever with Bond films I really don’t think the storyline is of paramount importance as the reason fans watch these films is to see the action scenes, the Bond girls, the lines, the villains and Bond’s charm and seduction when in the face of adversity as he often is.

This 007 film in particular played a huge part in giving Mike Myers his ideas for spoof agent Austin Powers such as the incredibly evil villain with his white cat who has a pedal that when pressed sees the floor taken from beneath his victim. There’s also the gigantic lair with guys in the background turning knobs to make it look like they’re doing something. The volcano base set is an elaborate one and the mysterious man stroking the cat is finally revealed to be Ernst Stravo Blofeld for a few brief scenes 100 minutes into the movie.

‘You Only Live Twice‘ may tire a bit in the second half but overall its a fun movie and on top of some nostalgic Japanese scenery it also features the “Little Nellie” helicopter which is one of the most beloved Q gadgets (used by Bond to explore the volcano area). As well as Blofeld finally being unveiled we also see the absurd plot whereby Bond is transformed into a Japanese man to maintain cover on his secret mission which can probably be attributed to (or blamed for) the many documentaries we’ve seen over the years with celebrity presenters throwing themselves into Japanese culture.

 

Tokyo Fox Rating 8/10

You can see my ‘You Only Live Twice‘ Japan filming locations here and here.

Posted in Films, James Bond, Review: Films Set In Japan | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Dining Out: Sinbad (Lebanese)

Posted on October 7, 2012 by tokyofox

I was inspired to go for Lebanese food at this restaurant (one of three in Tokyo) after watching a couple of episodes of ‘Anthony Bourdain No Reservations‘ about the country. As this culinary travel show is coming to an end of its final season run I have been watching a load of its previous seasons episodes recently which has no doubt coincided with my increased enthusiasm for ‘Dining Out’ blog entries. Bourdain and his film crew got caught up in the crossfire in Beirut due to the 2006 Lebanon War (also known as the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War) whilst filming back in season 2 (S02 E24: it was a ‘special’ episode). The city, which had only just been rebuilt back then after years of civil war and just freed of its Syrian occupiers, was “smashed back years” as they spent nearly a week under rocket fire and saw an international airport bombed to bits from their hotel vantage point.

 

‘Back To Beirut’ followed four years later in the 21st episode of Season 6 and as well as the emotional attachment to the city I was very impressed with the dishes and snack food that Bourdain sampled as he finally got to make the ‘No Reservations‘ show he set out to make four years earlier.

On the back of watching these programmes I sampled middle-eastern cuisine twice in the  same week. My girlfriend, her brother, his wife and I went for Israeli food at ‘Shamaim’ in Ekoda one Sunday (I’m not gonna write about each and every international restaurant I visit!) and then a few days later I took my girlfriend to ‘Sinbad’ (6-5-1 Nishi Shinjuku) for some Lebanese fare.

 

It’s in the heart of the business district on the west side of Shinjuku and is a small place which can be found in Island Tower in an area called Spice Lane. The restaurant doesn’t even have walls on most sides as its a kind of curtained-off area in the middle of a food court.

I remember going for Lebanese food with my friend Pooja in London way back in 2003 but can’t remember what exactly we ate. Maybe it was just a kind of sandwich or bread-type feast. This time I had beef doria with pita (950 yen lunch special) which was absolutely lovely but as ever I’m not sure how truly Lebanese it actually is and lets be honest whatever I had was never gonna compare to what viewers saw Bourdain eat on his television show.

 

The service was kind of annoying as its one of those places with a rapid quick-fire turnover of customers coming in for quick food and leaving as soon as the last bite has been swallowed.

 

Posted in Food & Drink | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

New York Filming Locations: Live And Let Die (1973)

Posted on October 4, 2012 by tokyofox

Roger Moore’s first outing as 007 in 1973’s ‘Live And Let Die‘ sees him go to New York arriving 13 minutes in at JFK International Airport in Queens on his mission to investigate the mysterious deaths of several other British agents. Typically, of the three airports in and around New York this was the one I didn’t have to go to but no great loss as its appearance is inevitably very different these days.

The same thankfully can’t be said for the ‘Oh Cult Voodoo Shop’ on 33 East 65th Street at 5th Avenue which is first seen after 18 minutes. As I was saying it was pretty surprising to see this place looking so similar nearly 40 years later. A couple of minutes later Bond is

     

seen hailing a yellow cab outside the store and tails a lead in typical follow-that-car movie fashion to ‘Fillet of Soul’ and though the sign post on screen clearly shows Lenox Avenue, it is in fact 2nd Avenue at 94th Street. 117th and 118th Streets were used for the fight scenes which followed and that was the end of the New York scenes. A bit surprising perhaps that no other Bond films have been set in this major world city since.

See other James Bond filming locations by clicking on the places below:

Tokyo  London  Prague  Venice  Como  Istanbul  Las Vegas  Phuket  Vienna  Hong Kong

Posted in James Bond, Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

New York Filming Locations: Batman Forever (1995) & The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Posted on October 1, 2012 by tokyofox

The third and final instalment of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies was filmed in Britain, India and the USA with New York playing its part and it’s there that we start this entry as it’s fair to say that this one is far more loved than ‘Batman Forever‘.

The exterior of Gotham City Stock Exchange (41 minutes) is on Wall Street and its the JPMorgan Building at number 23 (below) on the corner of Broad Street which is used though sadly it was under construction when I was in town which can be one of the most frustrating things on such location hunting expeditions. For the record, it’s interior was filmed all the way over in Los Angeles.

Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 18.03.21  

The aerial shots of Gotham City are not surprisingly (especially in an article about the locations of this famous city!) the skyscrapers of Manhattan in New York and the entrance to ‘Wayne Enterprises’ (62 minutes) is Trump Tower (below) on 725 5th Avenue at East 56th Street. Perhaps this was chosen to reflect the similarities in celebrity businessman status between Donald Trump and Bruce Wayne.

Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 18.35.24  

Though strictly not New York, Military Park Station in New Jersey is close enough to the Big Apple to be combined with though I never did make it to this subway tunnel on the Newark Light Rail which is where Kyle lures Batman into Bane’s trap. When Gotham is later closed off under Bane’s power, Queensboro Bridge (below) over the East River in New York can be briefly seen with tanks lined up on it.

Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 18.22.41  

Whilst ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ is generally considered to be much better than ‘Batman Forever‘ (1995) it doesn’t mean that the Joel Schumacher directed film wasn’t without its hype. Val Kilmer had taken over the main role from Michael Keaton and with a support cast including Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman it was a strong line-up. Batman’s partner Robin (Chris O’Donnell) also entered the fray and one of my favourite ever bands U2 recorded the much anticipated soundtrack ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me‘ which I can even remember DJ Simon Mayo playing twice in succession when it got its first ever airplay on BBC Radio One.

Bruce Wayne arrives at Surrogate’s Court on 31 Chambers Street (below) at Centre Street in Lower Manhattan and this was the office exterior of Dr Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman). I didn’t have the screenshots with me when I went here early one morning so sadly I didn’t snap the place from the angles where Wayne is seen on 29 minutes.

     

All of Gotham society including Wayne and Chase turn up at The Ritz Gotham Hotel on 70 minutes where Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey) has his party is also in Lower Manhattan and is in fact the old US Customs House on 1 Bowling Green at Broadway. It is now the National Museum of the American Indian (below) and also featured in ‘Ghostbusters II‘.

   

You can see the London Filming Locations of Batman here.

Posted in Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Back At The Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament In Tokyo

Posted on September 28, 2012 by tokyofox

This years Toray Pan Pacific Open (TPPO) tennis tournament in Tokyo promised to be better than usual with 12 of the world’s top 13 women participating for big prize money and a large amount of ranking points. Sadly, that one missing player was the one and only Continue reading →

Posted in Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Dining Out: Mingalaba (Burmese)

Posted on September 25, 2012 by tokyofox

Myanmar? Burma? Which is the correct one, I really don’t know but then again my knowledge of all things Burmese is very minimal. That is slowly changing due to one of my students bringing in articles about Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss a few months ago. I was very intrigued by her amazing story and about the country itself so with this heightened interest I went for some Burmese food after work last Wednesday with Mostyn, my guest in tow!

 

I was surprised to learn recently that there are at least six Burmese restaurants in Takadanobaba with us choosing Mingalaba at 2-14-8 Takadanoba (3F) as it was close to the station and its name seemed the funniest. Naturally we started with a couple of cans of Myanmar beer at 550 yen a piece and then set about ordering some local Burmese food from the very nice lady working there.

 

For starters we had la pet thop (mixed tea leaf salad) but little did I know that it was covered in peanuts so I only picked at that one a bit. La Pet Thop boys, as Mostyn and I will be called from now on, then worked our way through to fu cho (fried yellow tofu), pei kala hinn (yellow pea and vegetable curry) and nang jii thop (thick flour noodles with chicken and lemon sauce). All of these were really really lovely and a few more beers were washed down in a place which had a nice atmosphere with a couple of other groups in the place.

 

Before going to this restaurant I had watched ‘The Lady‘ starring Michelle Yeoh (former Bond girl and star of ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘) which only just came out in Japan a couple of months ago albeit with a very limited release. I watched the 2011 film on YouTube which was ok when the film was in English but there were no subtitles for the Burmese language bits which account for 30-40% of the movie (at a guess) thereby meaning I missed out on a lot of story. I have since watched it again in complete English and was very moved by it and thought that Yeoh’s portrayal of Suu Kyi was so impressive as shown by her Burmese language skills, physical resemblance (she lost a lot of weight before taking on the role), poise, elegance and the emotion involved in many of the scenes.

 

For those not in the know ‘The Lady‘ is basically a love story about how Suu Kyi and her British husband Michael (David Thewlis) sacrificed their own family happiness in the name of Burma’s democracy movement during periods of long separation and political turmoil in what was at times a dangerous hostile regime.

Furthermore, I was recently chatting to one of my students about Myanmar as her husband is currently living there and she said there would be direct flights between Tokyo and Yangon from October this year so a trip over there next year could well be a possibility though it definitely won’t include any filming locations as it was filmed in Thailand.

Click here to read my ‘Little Myanmar In Takadanobaba’ article

Posted in Food & Drink | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Dining Out: Mingalaba (Burmese)

New York Filming Locations: Superman (1978)

Posted on September 22, 2012 by tokyofox

It may not get quite the same hype as Batman or Spider-Man but Superman is arguably the most famous super-hero and one that brings back memories of my early childhood and the last day of school term where we often seemed to watch a Superman movie. I can only remember certain scenes from the Christopher Reeve films and it is actually the mid 90’s TV series ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman‘ which I remember more fondly and most of my Superman knowledge comes from that show.

The Daily Planet offices in the 1978 film where Clark Kent of course works is at 220 East 42nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. It actually is a newspaper office as its known as the News Building. This place plays a pretty important part in the scheme of things as after leaving work one night Kent sees a helicopter crash on the building’s roof and from this night on he becomes known as Superman! His mission: “To fight for truth, justice and the American Way”

     

Lois Lane’s apartment (below) is at 240 Central Park South.

 

The statue of Liberty (above) and Brooklyn Bridge (below) also feature in this Richard Donner directed movie with the former seeing Superman take Lois around the New York icon one night.

Posted in Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

New York Filming Locations: Coming To America (1988)

Posted on September 19, 2012 by tokyofox

When my family finally caught up with the rest of Britain and got a video recorder in the late 80’s the first film we rented was ‘Coming To America‘ starring Eddie Murphy; a film I still have fond affection for now and it was (kind of) exciting for me to go to the apartment. Its on 392 South 5th St at Hooper St just a minute away from Hewes St Metro station. When African Prince Akeem (Murphy) and his servant Semmi (Arsenio Hall) arrive in ‘Queens’ (below) they look for lodgings at the nearest apartment complex which just happened to be this place in Brooklyn. When Akeem first meets the landlord you can just about see the number of the building on the front door.

    

I was actually more interested in locating the McDowell’s restaurant (below) which featured heavily throughout with Akeem and Seemi working for Cleo McDowell at this converted restaurant. It is at 8507 Queens Blvd near Grand Av Newtown metro station in Queens but when I was in the vicinity (on my way to find a Spider-Man location or two) I couldn’t see it so I’ve taken this one from the excellent onthesetofnewyork.com site. It’s actually a ‘Wendy’s’ Hamburger restaurant at this location that doubled up as the fast-food chain which probably gave McDonalds lawyers a bit of a headache!

     

Another place I somehow missed (or rather forgot to photo! There’s a lot of things to take care of on these trips that its difficult to keep up with it all sometimes) was the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (above) at 301 Park Avenue. Akeem’s father King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) checks in here after receiving Semmi’s telegram.

The basketball match where Akeem goes on a double date with Patrice McDowell, Lisa McDowell and Darryl Jenks is at Madison Square Gardens (below) at 4 Penn Plaza.

 

Posted in Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment