Review: Films Set In Japan – Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)

Posted on July 22, 2012 by tokyofox

This third Austin Powers film is 10 years old this month and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that absolutely none of it was actually filmed in Japan. They didn’t reference this fact quite as blatantly as they did in the second film where Austin Powers (Mike Myers) comments on how England looks remarkably like Californian countryside!

After a celebrity-packed opening-credits ‘film within a film’ spoof followed by a load of other funny background story scenes Austin Powers and Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles) come to Tokyo. We’re 40 minutes into the movie when they are in the Japan capital to find Dr Evil’s (also played by Mike Myers) new lair which is a submarine in Tokyo Bay in the shape of him including the classic little finger to the mouth. It’s long, hard and full of sea-men!

  

The laughs are never too far away with Michael Caine turning in a fine comedic performance as Austin’s estranged father Nigel which went somewhat against type at the time.

The Asahi sumo arena doesn’t exist which is where Austin and Foxxy head (albeit with obvious rear projection of Shinjuku in the background) to find Fat Bastard (again played by Mike Myers) who tells them of Roboto Industries whose boss is named purely to give Powers the chance to say “Domo arigatou Mr Roboto” as was sung in Styx’s 1983.

The meeting with Mr Roboto is hilarious with some very juvenile humour based solely on Austin misreading the subtitles making it seem like his comments are dirty. How the hell this kind of humour transfers to Japanese people watching in Japanese I don’t know!! Answer: it no doubt doesn’t but no change there I guess!

I’ve never seen him in ‘Heroes‘ but the actor who played Hiro in that TV series has a short, funny role in this as the salaryman who speaks down the camera lens reminding the watching audience that the creature may look like Godzilla but due to international copyright laws it isn’t. Very silly humour but really funny.

 

In many ways its probably the lamest of the three Austin Powers movies as it does repeat many of the gags from the other two films but its actually my favourite. ‘Goldmember’ is full of laughs and has a strong list of characters in it although I’ve never really taken too much to Fat Bastard. Canadian born Myers, whose parents were both English, really has got some of the British cultural references down to a fine tee and this is one film I really never tire of watching.

Tokyo Fox Rating 9/10 (yes, really!)

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London Filming Locations: Snatch (2000)

Posted on July 19, 2012 by tokyofox

After the success of ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels‘ director Guy Ritchie cashed in and made a wholly enjoyable but very similar film before everyone started to get a bit fed up of his London gangster movies.

I’ve only got a few locations to show from this year 2000 movie and the first two are just metres away from each other. First up is ‘Premier House’ (below) at 12-13 Hatton Gardens which played the part of ‘Denovitz Diamonds’; the diamond shop of Doug ‘The Head’ played superbly by the late Mike Read.

Down the alley next to that store is ‘Ye Old Mitre Tavern’ (below) where we first see Doug getting a phone call whilst Guy Ritchie can be seen reading a newspaper in the background.

The Jolly Gardeners (below) at 49 Black Prince Road doubles up as The Drowning Trout where Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) is drinking a pint of Guiness after his car crash. Suddenly Sol and his bunch of masked amateurs catch up with him looking to relieve him of the diamond stone. Bullet Tooth Tony is far from intimidated though as he notices that it says replica down the side of Sol’s gun. Typical Ritchie dialogue is used during this exchange of words. Vauxhall on the Victoria Line is the closest underground station and the place has had a bit of a facelift since it was seen in the film 12 years ago.

     

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    Trainspotting    Mission: Impossible    Lara Croft Tomb Raider    The Bourne Ultimatum   Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone   James Bond    About A Boy    Quadrophenia    Bridget Jones’s Diary    Goodnight Sweetheart    Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels    Basic Instinct 2    Batman Begins/The Dark Knight    The Italian Job    Rom-Com Special    Skyfall    Notting Hill    The World Is Not Enough

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London Filming Locations: The Italian Job (1969)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by tokyofox

Think of Michael Caine’s classic portrayal of Charlie Croker in the original ‘Italian Job’ film and you no doubt think of the city of Turin where the ‘job’ is done using three Mini Coopers, a Jaguar and a bus amid the chaos of the Italian streets. However, much of the film was actually made in England and believe it or not it was actually Coventry in the West Midlands that was used for the sewer scene with the Mini’s driving through them. This 1969 film sees Croker released (below) from Wormwood Scrubs Prison on Ducane Road which is a lot further away from BBC Television Centre than I thought when I looked at the map and concluded that it was just round the corner!

 

The Royal Lancaster Hotel (below) is where Croker has his party to celebrate his release from Prison. It is on Lancaster Terrace and is perhaps ironically located across the road from the Italian Gardens in Hyde Park.

 

Croker’s actual home is at 18 Denbigh Close (below) off Portobello Road in Notting Hill.

 

The Canada Gates part of Crystal Palace Park (above) is where the films most famous line was delivered. “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” is uttered by Caine as they watch the car get blown to smithereens.

Peninsula Heights is the block off flats (below) next to the River Thames close to Vauxhall Bridge where the plan to do the bank job in Turin is put into place.

  

Harley Street’s sign (above) can be seen when Noel Coward goes for a check-up somewhere in that area of Westminster.

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    Trainspotting    Mission: Impossible    Lara Croft Tomb Raider    The Bourne Ultimatum   Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone   James Bond    About A Boy    Quadrophenia    Bridget Jones’s Diary    Goodnight Sweetheart    Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels    Basic Instinct 2    Batman Begins/The Dark Knight    Snatch    Rom-Com Special    Skyfall    Notting Hill    The World Is Not Enough

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London Filming Locations: Batman Begins & The Dark Knight

Posted on July 13, 2012 by tokyofox

With the much anticipated release of ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ approaching I think its a good time to show you some of the London filming locations for the two Christopher Nolan produced films which preceded it. Both films scored very favourably in terms of the critical reception with the majority of film fans preferring ‘The Dark Knight‘ (2008) but I’m actually a slightly bigger fan of ‘Batman Begins‘ (2005) as this was the re-boot which really changed things with a strong all-star cast and a dramatically intense soundtrack. ‘The Dark Knight‘ continued the fine work and hopefully the new film won’t disappoint either.

The Arkham Asylum in ‘Batman Begins‘ is the National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway on Burtonhole Lane and the interior stairwell invaded by a SWAT team and a load of bats on 91 minutes is St Pancras Chambers. It is perhaps more famous as being the same stairs where the video for the Spice Girls debut single ‘Wannabe‘ was filmed!

Gotham City Police Station is the first floor offices of the Farmiloe Building (below) at 28-36 St John Street in Clerkenwell. This interior location was used in ‘Batman Begins‘ and ‘The Dark Knight‘ and has been used once again for ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘. Gary Oldman’s character Sergeant (later Lieutenant) Gordon works here in the Christopher Nolan trilogy and the director even used the place in ‘Inception‘ as the pharmacy.

 

The DMS Watson Library in Malet Place is the Gotham Print Room and the Medawar Building (below) within the same complex is the exterior of the Gotham Police Department HQ.

  

The city of Gotham State Courts where Bruce Wayne goes to kill the man who murdered his parents is Senate House (below) at the University of London on Malet Street. However, Wayne never gets the chance to go through with his revengeful act as on 25 minutes one of Falcone’s men shoots him first. The same location is used in the sequel as The Joker threatens the city of Gotham.

 

The exterior of the restaurant where Bruce Wayne (with two babes on his arm) bumps into Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) on 70 minutes in ‘Batman Begins‘ is the architectural wonder that is the eyelid entrance of CityPoint (below) on Ropemaker Street near Moorgate. However, the restaurant interior was filmed at Plateau in Canada Place, Canada Square.

 

Marco Pierre White’s Criterion restaurant (below) at 224 Piccadilly near Piccadilly Circus is supposedly owned by Bruce Wayne and is where he finds ex lover Rachel (this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) having dinner with Harvey Dent.

 

The two photos below are from London Film Museum on Southbank with the one on the right being the batsuit worn by Christian Bale in ‘Batman Begins‘.

  

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    Trainspotting    Mission: Impossible    Lara Croft Tomb Raider    The Bourne Ultimatum   Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone    James Bond    About A Boy    Quadrophenia    Bridget Jones’s Diary    Goodnight Sweetheart    Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels    Basic Instinct 2    The Italian Job    Snatch    Rom-Com Special    Skyfall    Notting Hill    The World Is Not Enough

 

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Tokyo Daytripper: Nihon Minka-en Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum

Posted on July 10, 2012 by tokyofox

This is quite a unique museum as visitors get a rare opportunity to walk through and experience ancient Edo period style architecture first hand. In my opinion this sure beats looking at objects and pictures and reading guide boards in a closed building. Sure, the latter still exists in part inside each of the 23 buildings but you are reading the information (in English as well as Japanese) within the walls of the traditional houses.

 

Nihon Minkaen can be found in Kawasaki City (7-1-1 Masugata, Tama-ku is the actual address) and Mukugaokayuen on the Odakyu line is the closest station. Asif and I took the 15 minute walk from the station (approximate time) a week ago to see these valuable historic creations which have been relocated from all over Japan.

 

This folk village has been reconstructed to feature a variety of buildings such as farmhouses, a water mill (above), a kabuki stage, a ferryman’s hut and an exhibition hall featuring your more common museum-type stuff displays.

     

The place seemed to be full (not literally) of people sitting around doing some water paintings of the more beautiful farmhouses which are the ones with the thatched roofs. There are also a few people in some of the houses doing stuff like sewing or boiling water and inviting you to sit around the lingering smoke. Not sure if they can actually cook you up some soba noodles or not as I declined the offers as it was too hot and I don’t like smokey places whatever kind of smoke it is.

I also got a bit frustrated with a women in one of the farm houses as she just laughed every time I spoke some basic Japanese phrases to her. Sure, she meant no ill feeling to me but it is annoying that some narrow-minded Japanese people laugh just because a foreigner is  speaking (or trying to speak) their language. Naturally, it works both ways and we often get complimented for just saying a word or two in Japanese. Anyway, I digress….

     

Overall, this place is a cheap (500 yen entry), pleasant half day trip from the city offering an insight into Japan’s traditional architecture whilst the surrounding hills also provide a welcome nature break from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo city life.

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Review: Films Set In Japan – The Shinjuku Incident (2009)

Posted on July 7, 2012 by tokyofox

He may be one of the worlds most famous international action stars but I am ashamed to say that the only film of his that I’d ever seen before this was the 2009 re-make of ‘The Karate Kid‘. I actually picked up ‘The Shinjuku Incident‘ on dvd last Christmas for a few quid in England and with a renewed interest in Chan following my trip to his homeland in May I decided to watch it again recently.

It is only because of Chan’s iconic world status that this is included in this series of film reviews which tends to principally focus on western-made films ‘set’ in the land of the rising sun. That oriental image of Japan is far removed in this tale of Chinese refugees fighting a war against the Yakuza in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

Provocative, compelling and underscored with hard hitting action, this pulse-pounding thriller explodes with tension, and delivers a career-defining performance from Jackie Chan. Not my words but those on the back of the dvd and for once I have to say that I  agree with most of the marketing blurb as it kept me entertained for its duration.

 

The story begins with dozens of Chinese immigrants entering Japan via Wakasa Bay (directly north of Osaka) and making their way to Tokyo where they do the less glamourous jobs that the Japanese don’t want to do. Steelhead (Chan) is an illegal worker hoping to make it in Japan the honest way but his life gradually descends into petty crime and from that he finds himself deeper and deeper in trouble as his crimes to help his people have a future get heavier and heavier. His one ally is Kitano; the Police sergeant he saved from drowning who is prepared to ‘re-pay his debt’ but he can only do so for so long.

Daniel Wu plays the chestnut selling boy Jie who is out of place amid the underground violence which they find themselves more and more drawn into. His portrayal in the first hour of the film is fine but in the second half his character has a real quick change of character which is questionable and not really fitting with the guy we saw in the earlier part.

This 114 minute Jackie Chan production can be a hard watch at times due to the extreme nature of some of the violence. Chan shows, as he did in ‘The Karate Kid‘, that he can act in a dramatic role when he needs to and I was happy to see that this was made for the Asian market and thereby didn’t need watering down for a Western audience.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

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Hiking In Fukushima Pt II: Goshikinuma

Posted on July 4, 2012 by tokyofox

So what exactly did I end up doing on my first day in Fukushima I hear you ask! Following the setback mentioned at the start of ‘Hiking in Fukushima Pt I‘ I decided to head back to Koriyama station which I had passed through a short time before. My plan was basically to just switch the two one-day itineraries and so I headed on to Inawashiro from where Bandai Toto buses to Goshikinuma thankfully run a lot more often. Half an hour later, after an arduous morning, I was at my destination where I did the 3.7km nature trail around Five Colours Lakes. For the record they get their name due to the colours – emerald green, cobalt blue etc – created by the mineral deposits from volcanic eruption.

       

This Bandai-san area in Fukushima has been on my ‘to do’ list for many many years now and having cancelled the trip there in October due to averse weather conditions I thought I’d try again. Mount Bandai is in my background in the photos above and below. Bishamonnuma was the first lake and the biggest one with an amazing turquoise colour and giant koi (carp). Seeing this beautiful lake was a bit of relief after all the travelling I’d done so far that day.

       

The area is supposedly famous for Asiatic black bears but I was very sceptical of such claims despite the sign above saying to beware of the bear. I’d probably have to say that my favourite lake was the one below which was far more peaceful and tranquil with less visitors and also minus the rowing boats seen at the first place.

     

I walked the leisurely hiking trail end to end and then back again as I didn’t want to wait for a bus at the other end. Besides I had time to kill and so the 17.10 bus to Inawashiro station worked out well as I was able to instantly catch an express train to Koriyama where I had a hotel booking.

There wasn’t too much to do ahead of the following days trip to Jyododaira apart from seeing this geiger counter thing (below) outside the station which I assume has something to do with radiation levels in the area which is only about 34 miles (55 km) west of the infamous Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. I filled my bottle with tap water the next morning and have felt no ill effects of such a ‘dangerous’ activity! A couple of minutes away from that is the Koriyama City Fureai Science Center “Space Park” which has an observation deck on its 24th floor where I could see fine view of the towns below and the mountains in the distance.

     

Furthermore, just getting to Fukushima station and back was a new experience for me as I rode on the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the first time ever which was one of the things I wrote about last October regarding ‘Things I’ve never done in Japan‘.

 

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Hiking In Fukushima Pt I: Jyododaira

Posted on July 1, 2012 by tokyofox

With a weeks holiday under way and not too much going on I decided to get away from the city for a couple of days. I went to Fukushima and on my arrival just after 9am I was shocked to discover that the one bus a day to Jyododaira was only available at weekends and though this was one hell of a setback I guess I should be mightily relieved that the following day was a Saturday and that I was booked to spend the night in Koriyama.

The next morning I returned to Fukushima station and took the bus for about 90 minutes to Jyododaira. With there only being one realistic return bus (there is one 75 mins after you arrive!) time was of the essence. The information guy said it was a 4 hour round trip but I never believed that for a moment and was confident I could do it in just over half that time…..and I was right! Within 80 minutes I was on top and was pretty impressed at the view of the volcano which was situated right next to the car-park (on the other side) where I was dropped off.

 

However, little did I know that a far more beautiful sight was to come on the other side of the mountain I had just ascended. This was a stunning view and within seconds cloud was covering the view but thankfully that passed by not so long after. Taking some of the photos below was actually quite slow given the crumbling nature of the debris. One fatal slip and you could easily see yourself tumbling down the mountain!

       

The actual climb and descend was also fantastic with area’s of gleaming white ice amid grass covered mountains and lush green forest. Some of the views were very Swiss-like or so I assume anyway as I only have limited knowledge of that country’s landscape having only visited for a short time a couple of years back.

            

Once back at the car park I shot up the steps at lightning pace to walk the rim of the crater seen in the pictures at the top of this page. I didn’t have time to circle the volcano or rather I didn’t want to risk missing the bus as I had to get back to Tokyo as soon as I could for a mates birthday party. Up close the views looking down into the volcano were not as spectacular as those from the top of the mountain but still more than satisfactory for those visitors only wanting a small slice of climbing/hiking action. I splashed out 100 yen on a kunsei tamago (smoked egg) once back at the car park area to reward myself for my hours of hiking in the warm sunshine.

       

How to get there: Apart from koyo (Autumn leaves) season only one bus a day goes to Jyododaira. It leaves from stop 11 on the east side of JR Fukushima station at 09.50 and/or 10.00 from the west side. It costs 1760 yen one way whilst the return journey is at 15.40 and arrives back at Fukushima station at 16.50. This journey is 1240 yen.

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On The Trail Of John Rain (雨) Part III – Tokyo

Posted on June 29, 2012 by tokyofox

It’s back due to popular demand from none other than Barry Eisler; the author of the John Rain series of books. Thanks to Twitter, I had a very short but enjoyable conversation with my favourite author earlier this month after he very kindly put a link to this site on his twitter feed. That resulted in this site getting a record number of hits in one day for the original ‘On the trail…‘ article from a couple of years ago which saw me spend a day cycling around all the (remaining) Tokyo locations featured in four of the first six Rain books.

Mr Eisler suggested I let him know if I ever did the Tokyo locations from ‘The Detachment‘ which I said I had already done but never included on this site. I actually did them last November so here goes….

 

‘Body & Soul’ in Minami Aoyama, ‘Cafe de L’Ambre’ in Ginza (above) and ‘Campbelltown Loch’ in Yurakucho (below) are all Continue reading →

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‘Beyond The Movies’ – Behind The Scenes + Full Interview

Posted on June 26, 2012 by tokyofox

‘Beyond The Movies’ is the title I’ve been using for the last few years on my Facebook film-related albums which feature mostly shooting locations but also include screenshots, memorabillia, exhibitions, toys, events and anything which takes the reader beyond the surface of that particular movie. These albums include Star Wars, James Bond, Jason Bourne, Terminator, Back To The Future, Mission Impossible, Super Heroes, Tokyo, Kansai, Asia, The USA, Australia, Europe, The UK and so on.

I often (well occasionally) get asked how I find out the details of each shot which I take so here, by way of a recent online interview I did, is a sneak-peak behind the scenes look at how things fall into place at the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Tokyo.

 

Here is the full transcript of the interview which will no doubt be edited down quite a bit when it finally sees the light of day later in the year.

How did this obsession come about? I’ve always been interested in seeing such locations but after years of travelling and seeing the usual stuff like waterfalls, beaches, churches, temples and so on I became a bit bored of just doing the sights when I visit a place so hunting down these famous filming locations allowed me to see places in different ways whilst getting off the well worn and proverbial beaten track at the same time.

Do you choose your holiday destinations based solely on films shot there? Apart from maybe Tunisia I have never solely gone to a place just for locations but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t play a major part. Its usually a combination of a few things.

What were the first filming locations you went to? The first one I really remember was one of the Fijian islands which was used in the Tom Hanks survival movie ‘Cast Away‘ but that was way back in 2002. It wasn’t until a trip to Phuket in Thailand in 2008 with my mate Ethan that I realised I was more interested in seeing the island from the James Bond film ‘The Man With The Golden Gun‘ and the hostel and beach from ‘The Beach‘ rather than your typical usual touristy sights. Of course a couple of those places I’ve just mentioned are sights in their own right but the hostel certainly isn’t and that was fun.

What has been your favourite location? There have been many. Something like Petra in Jordan which featured in ‘Indiana Jones & the last Crusade‘ was great but that’s a famous sight in its own right so I’d have to say that its the Star Wars stuff in Tunisia. Random places completely unknown by locals who have never seen the saga.

 

What’s been the most difficult one to find? Some of the ones here in Tokyo actually. I needed help from a couple of Japanese people to help me find locations from ‘The Grudge‘ as there was nothing in English and my Japanese skills don’t quite stretch to searching pages and pages of information written in Japanese kanji.

Have you ever failed to track down a place? Yes and I’m still a little gutted about it as it was a big important one. My driver and I just could not locate the igloo in the south west of Tunisia which was the exterior of the Lars Homestead in Star Wars Episodes IV and II.

What preparations do you make in advance? I watch the film with a notepad and pen taking notes on the time of the scene and using the pause button regularly. I then draw a rough sketch of the scene I want to replicate. The end credits of the film sometimes give a bit of fairly vague info on the locations or who the producers thank can give a helping hand. Basically I utilise the DVD extras to maximum effect by watching ‘making of…’ documentary, deleted scenes & listening to the directors commentary. Computer-wise I used to copy photos of scenes from the web if they were available and then printed them out for comparison shots. In recent times I have become a bit more modernised and use my iPad or iPhone to store the pictures on which is far better than a badly printed screenshot picture. I have also used my PSP in the past for ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ and ‘Bourne Identity’ stuff but the UMD format is basically a failed one so isn’t going to be so beneficial as very few films were released as a PSP video.

      

What resources do you use to help you? Having decided where I want to go to on a trip I cross-reference that place with ‘The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations‘ (Tony Reeves) book and website which is the grandaddy of filming locations information. Furthermore, I search Wikipedia, YouTube and the net in general where other movie fans have posted their stuff online but its not always so easy as certain ones, particularly the ones here in Japan, are not detailed well. Imdb can sometimes be as vague as just saying the country name but its filming locations section occasionally if I’m lucky goes much further in detail and even gives addresses. I also search out books and programmes with Mark Dermul’s Star Wars books in particular assisting me for finding the exact points which George Lucas used.

You appear in a lot of your photos so who takes them for you? Apart from a few trips with friends the vast majority have been taken by myself using a tripod and timer. For the record I appear in my pictures to stop people wanting to steal them off the internet and pass them off as their own…and of course because I’m very vain! haha!

Where does the name Tokyo Fox come from? Well my team Leicester City, who play in the league below the Premier League, are nicknamed the Foxes and I live in Tokyo so there you go.

What kind of person looks at the Tokyo Fox website? Good question! Apart from my parents, who themselves probably skim over all the film stuff, I know of very few of my family or friends who regularly look at it. I get a lot of hits for the Star Wars, Bourne, Back to the Future, James Bond, Terminator locations in particular from like-minded fans scouring google in search of these places which have played a part in movie history. Of course theres other stuff on there about Japanese life and travel etc which is quite popular too.

Do you have any plans to release a book? Well I’ve certainly considered it a few times and did start work on a Japan filming locations title but as ever these things get put aside while other things in my life take over. I’d like to pull my finger out one day and get something published but whether it will happen I don’t know. Watch this space…

 

What locations would you like to see in the future? Hmmm, not too many must-sees left but I am going to New York next month which has more films set there than anywhere else. Other than that then maybe Guatemala to do a Star Wars shot and maybe some of central america may be of interest. I still have places to see in London and it would actually be nice to travel my own country a bit more in the name of shooting locations.

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