Wishing for a break from all the football at Euro 2012, my friend Mostyn and I decided to head on down to Chichibunomiya to see some international rugby. The Brave Blossoms, presently ranked 16th in the world, were hosting Samoa who are actually the ninth best international rugby team according to the IRB (International Rugby Board) world rankings.
This wasn’t actually my first time to see the Japan national team in action as I Continue reading
‘You Only Live Twice‘ or ‘Walk Don’t Run‘ may be the more famous of the older films set in Japan but I recently encountered one from nearly a decade before those. Of course I was very much aware of John Wayne as an enduring American icon before watching this but I had never seen any of his films in full and it seems that this particular one was a little different to his signature ones.
Chatrooms here in Japan are often full of foreigners living here complaining about all manner of things but if they think they are sometimes discriminated against then its nothing compared to the enormous hostility that Townsend Harris (John Wayne) and his helper Henry experienced when he was sent to 19th century Japan to serve as the first U.S. Consul-General in this country.
To the directors credit the film doesn’t do what many international films set in Japan do and have everyone speaking English all the time. There are significant amounts of Japanese dialogue with a voice-over updating the story throughout and Harris relies on his sidekick Henry to translate which is a common way for foreigner visitors to communicate here yet rarely used in films.
As the title implies the barbarian Harris attracts the attentions of a Geisha and sure enough we see the Geisha in performance; dancing, singing, playing the koto and entertaining to the sounds of the mysterious Orient. Her initial hostility and dislike inevitably turns to mutual respect and love. However, this human story only plays a small part in the scheme of things for the bigger picture is of the clash and conflicting interests between Japan; a traditionalist, internalised, isolationist country and the externalised rising nation of America.
There are some dramatic scenes regarding cholera epidemic and the destruction of the town which results in Harris going to Edo to convince someone or another to open up the country. Japan just wants to be left alone but Harris, being a man who gets things done through the power of words and persuasion rather than brute force, tries to convince Japan that it is a nation importantly located at the crossroads of international shipping.
With the film being set long before the accelerated growth in the country it is quite nice to get a glimpse of Japan from a different era to what I know. The film was a bit of a box office flop and its maybe easy to say why as it’s plot isn’t too strong and the romance of the film isn’t exactly gonna set your heart racing. However, it does cover the intended topic with relative ease and the visual elements of the picture are sufficient enough to help you get through the 100 minutes without reaching for the remote control.
Tokyo Fox Rating 4/10
Of course this site focuses mainly on the locations of foreign productions but from time time we go off track whether it be soaps, dramas or even books. This time I hunted down a couple of pivotal locations from Japanese language film ‘Ju-on: The Grudge 2‘ as I had a long break in Hibarigaoka a couple of months ago so I went one stop (by express train on the Seibu Ikebukuro line) to Tokorozawa in Saitama.
Usually I document the locations in chronological order but this time its probably best to do them in the order of finding them so first up is the bridge which features in the films dramatic final chapter on 82 minutes.
This was really easy to find despite there being very little on the internet (in English) about its whereabouts.
If you take the west exit and go down the steps you will see a Koban (Police box) and Seiyu department store to your right so go down that road following the tracks for about five minutes.
There is one crossing before the out of sight bridge so you will have to turn left before hanging right after only about 10 metres. Go down that road until you hit the bridge.
Its address is 16-11 and it really couldn’t be any easier.
Now for the trickier location which has mystified many. Head down the road with the steps directly behind you (and the two tall apartment blocks in the distance in front of you) and you will soon come to a small car park area below.
Turn left and go through it sticking close to the left side and you will see a very narrow alley (above) which you go down and round a couple of corners and then you will see it.
I couldn’t get an address for the house but it is in block 14 which if you don’t know anything about how Japanese addresses work will mean nothing to you!
I should thank a blogger called Rachel as, even though she didn’t give directions on her site, she did show enough pictures for me to go on and find this house which is part of Japanese horror film history. It first appears after 8 minutes and again on 34 and 64 minutes.
The great thing about both locations is that they are in a quiet area and so with few people around you can (if you want!) take the kind of photos I did without too much embarrassment. I have a tripod which is recommended if you want to actually take a peek over the tall white fence as I did below. The other photo is of the back of the house.
For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:
You Only Live Twice Lost In Translation Kill Bill Babel Godzilla Walk Don’t Run Into The Sun Monster Wasabi The Grudge The Ramen Girl The Toxic Avenger Pt II The Wolverine Memoirs Of A Geisha The Last Samurai
Whilst walking amongst a very local flea market in a nearby park a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a bonsai tree at a heavily discounted price. It has since taken pride of place in my apartment (well maybe not but it sounds like the right thing to say!) and I’ve been taking care to water it and expose it to sunlight where possible which not too easy when I have no garden, balcony or even a proper window sill!
Of course my first experience of these amazing little specimens came from watching ‘The Karate Kid‘ (1984) in the mid-80’s when Daniel-san entered the janitors workshop (below). This was Mr Miyagi’s passion and he gave one to Daniel-san’s mum as a gift.
Viewers who stuck with the franchise even got to see Daniel help Miyagi set up a bonsai tree shop (above) in the rather lame second sequel ‘The Karate Kid Part III‘ (1989).
Omiya up in Saitama prefecture isn’t too far from Tokyo and is a place I have seen featured in the local listings magazines over the years for its bonsai museums and with my new-found interest in this part of Japanese culture I went there last Sunday to learn a bit more.
The museum opened in 2010 and has displays of bonsai pots, suiseki (beautifully shaped) stones, pictures, historical bonsai materials and of course the bonsai trees themselves. There are actually quite a few bonsai nurseries in Omiya making up what is known as Omiya Bonsai Village but one was enough for me so I just went to the museum. Can’t say that I learned a hell of a lot but I did pick up a few tidbits of useful information regarding growing techniques and formal forms of decoration which I won’t bore you with. For some reason you can’t take photos at the museum apart from a small section of the miniature trees on display behind the bamboo fence in the picture below.
The Omiya Bonsai Art Museum can be found at 2-24-3 Toro-cho, Kita-ku in Saitama. It’s a five minute walk from the east exit of Toro Station on the JR Utsunomiya line. Entry is 300 yen.
You can see my Karate Kid filming locations blog entry here.
I decided to watch this again a few days ago having just taught a student who this week is going to visit the island of Iwo-jima which is actually part of Tokyo albeit a long, long way south (750 km) of the mainland. Most of the scenes weren’t actually filmed there though but on the black sand beaches of Sandvik in the south-west of Iceland. Clint Eastwood directed this film straight off the back of the less successful ‘Flags of our Fathers‘ in order to give the Japanese perspective and when I originally watched it on its release in 2006 I admittedly wasn’t expecting anything more than just being able to tell students that I had seen it. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
This Hollywood production gets full credit first and foremost for not going anywhere near the usual Japanese stereotypes portrayed in most other films. It is clearly distinguishable from all the other films set in Japan with no need to rely on any stereotypical images of Japanese society and is supposedly scripted with excellent research into Japanese society at that time. Secondly, it used nearly all Japanese actors rather than American-Japanese or other Asian actors. This doesn’t bother me so much but its something the Japanese often get worked up about in the name of authenticity. Finally, all but about five minutes of the films 141 minute length features Japanese dialogue but despite the length and need for subtitles I was captivated throughout which for someone like me, with a short attention span, is very rare.
The main characters all have interesting stories to tell which are shown via a few flashback scenes. Ken Watanabe, by far the most famous Japanese actor (if not the only one) known overseas, may be the lead role but the true star of the film is the baby faced Shingo; the baker with a pregnant wife, who is called up to fight for his country. He is a frightened, anxious man full of hope and battling against the harsh regime of the Japanese army. He wants to realise just one dream which is to get home to see his daughter.
The film starts off in the present day with someone discovering the letters on the island and then its back to 1944 as the film really draws you into the caves and makes you a part of the Japanese soldier’s life. We see them basically defend the island to the death which General Kuribayashi (Watanabe) says is of utmost importance. The utter hopelessness of their situation is quite a recurring thing and time and time again we hear of the soldiers dying with honour and courage in the line of duty against the American invasion and we even hear that it’s “our fate to find our place at Yasukuni Shrine.”
Overall, I was thoroughly engrossed throughout this emotionally powerful movie and I’d probably even go as far to say that it’s one of the best war films out there and Clint Eastwood deserves all the accolades that came with this picture. The ironic thing is that it is he who has made this film rather than the Japanese themselves and if you didn’t know anything about the production you’d naturally assume it was not a domestic production.
Tokyo Fox Rating 10/10
Only a couple of weeks ago did I say the words “I’m not really a temple or shrine person” after my trip around YaNeSen where I went to Nezu Jinja Shrine. It was whilst doing my research on that place that I came across the “Ten Shrines Of Tokyo‘ which are considered the most important as they were selected in 1868 by Emperor Meiji after he had moved to Edo and renamed it Tokyo.
It’s been a while since I did a pointless and meaningless cycling challenge in and around Tokyo so the idea of riding around all ten of these in one day appealed. The main reason I decided to do this was to finally use my iPhone map to get around and find a few places which was a major reason for investing in the technology yet I had never used that function until this ride. Furthermore I wanted to use an app I have which tracks how far you ride (or run) and how many calories you burn as well as other statistical information like average pace and speed and elevation climb. I also wanted to go cycling as I have been too injured to go running recently and was feeling in need of a long cycle ride to help my fitness. I had only visited one of the places on the list and that was only a fortnight ago as I mentioned before. Some of the shrines were in parts of Tokyo I had never really been to. I was actually quite surprised that Meiji-jingu Shrine, Tokyo’s biggest and most famous one, was not included in the list.
It was a lovely sunny morning (May 25) when I left my apartment in north Tokyo just after 8am on my bicycle which has a non-existent front brake (broken) and a back brake which when squeezed tightly still takes about 100 metres to stop. The ten shrines are numbered in the order I did them as opposed to them being ranked in order by Emperor Meiji.
1) Oji Jinja Shrine (1-1-12 Oji Hon-cho, Kita-ku) – Hidden away on some back streets and located right next to a school with foxes guarding something or another.
2) Hakusan Shrine (5-31-26 Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku) – Fairly small and completely deserted shrine next to a construction site.
3) Nezu Shrine (1-28-9 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku) – Possibly the most famous of the ten but given that I blogged about this place very recently I have very little to add.
4) Kanda Shrine (2-16-2 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku) – Huge spacious complex with all the usual goings on as well as having a donkey there too. My camera started playing up here in terms of the 10 second timer not working and the sky was beginning to look more grey.
5) Kameido Tenjin Shrine (3-6-1 Kameido, Koto-ku) – Difficult to find and where I discovered that iPhone maps direct you to the actual shrine building part rather than the entrance which I cycled by and then want back and forth around some back streets looking for what was the back entrance. Have I used the word ‘back’ enough there?! This shrine is famous for its drum bridges and whilst I was there there was a drum band playing some melodic tunes. Unfortunately it was here that the rain finally broke through the clouds.
6) Tomioka Hachiman Shrine (1-20-3 Tomioka, Koto-ku) – Heavier rain led to me wearing the hat (to keep the water out of my eyes) which I’d brought to stop my head burning. If only!
7) Shiba Daimyojin Shrine (1-12-7 Shiba-Daimon, Minato-ku) – Took a while to locate and was done using the address rather than the maps function. By now my battery was starting to die. This was a very small place with some steps up to the shrine.
8) Shinagawa Shrine (3-7 Kita Shinagawa) – Another one which was difficult to find. The shrine is guarded by stone dragons and it had a series of red torii gates to its side. I met a man here who tried to tell me a story about the place in English but I didn’t really understand what he was really getting at.
9) Hikawa Shrine (6-10-12 Akasaka, Minato-ku) – More foxes on show and again hardly a soul in start no doubt due to it being a weekday afternoon and it raining.
10) Hie Shrine (2-10-5 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku) – Thankfully this one was close to the previous one and a big place with a couple of flights of steep steps going up to the grounds. The ones I took up had some beautiful red torii gates leading you to the shrine. The complex was quite spacious not that I really cared as I was just relieved to have finished!
Mind you, I still had to cycle home from there which was over an hour away. Having not once looked at my phone since finding the last shrine I got home and checked out the information regarding the ride. Overall I did 7 hrs 25 cycling and covered 76.31km (47.41miles) burning off 2938 calories. If I had been to two or three of these shrines in the same day via foot and train then I would have been bored but I have to say that I enjoyed all the shrines as it was a sense of achievement and relief to find each and every one of them. You could say that I had a shrine time!
UPDATE: It seems that I went to the wrong shrine in Oji as it’s the similarly named Oji Inari-jinja Shrine (1-12-26 Kishimachi, Kita-ku) which is part of the ten shrines! They are only 600 metres apart and I have been to both. The link below contains more details about this one.
Click here to read ‘Tokyo Daytripper: Riding One Of Tokyo’s Last Surviving Tram Lines’
Following in the footsteps of my ‘Phantom Menace‘, ‘Attack of the Clones‘ and ‘Revenge of the Sith‘ (the latter can only be seen on Tokyo Fox‘s sister site ‘Beyond The Movies‘) compilations comes the shooting locations of the original Star Wars movie which after its 1977 release was retitled ‘Episode IV: A New Hope‘. For this film, the crew went on location to Guatemala and Tunisia with pick-up shots laer done at Death Valley in California.
The first spaceship to be seen is the Rebel Blockade Runner, a.k.a. the Tantive IV, and on 3 minutes we are inside the ship with the guards awaiting the arrival of Darth Vader not that they knew he would be arriving. There was a set piece of this at the London Film Museum on Southbank next to the London Eye and it cost £7 per photo (two for £10) on top of the entrance fee. Richard Richard and I had no qualms about spending that money on the photos below.
C3P0 is seen in the Tunisian desert Continue reading
Tokyo may be a city where newer and higher buildings are erected willy nilly but there is an ‘oasis of Edo calm’ to be found within the cool hills of Yanesen. This is the abbreviated name given to the neighbourhoods of Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi which is located within the Yamanote circle.
It’s an area I read about in a local listings magazine about five years ago but have never really bothered to muster the enthusiasm for strolling around until a couple of weekends ago. Fortunately I had kept that article and its map and with it being a nice, sunny day I met up with a friend at Nippori station to spend a few hours meandering the narrow streets, food stalls, restaurants, cafes, workshops, craft shops, shrines and temples.
* Yanaka Ginza is the name of the busy street which is packed with traditional retail shops selling all sorts of cheap delicious Japanese snacks.
* Tenouji temple is round the corner from Nippori station and features a large copper Buddha (below) originally built in 1690.
* Nenotsu (above) is a traditional restaurant serving up udon noodles which is usually very popular with customers patiently lining up outside as Japanese tend to do.
* Nezu jinja shrine was built in 1705 and is one of Tokyo’s oldest structures. Whilst temples and shrines really aren’t my thing I can appreciate the odd one here and there and this one is full of foxes which are of course of interest to Leicester City fans and people running websites with fox in the title!
As I’ve mentioned in a couple of articles in the past these stone foxes are traditionally viewed by Japanese people as being sacred and mysterious figures which supposedly protect the place in some way or another.
One of my favourite bands played at Shin Kiba in Tokyo tonight (May 18) and I was there to see them at what was the same place they played at in November 2010. This time they were in town to play their 38 singles (as well as a few others) over two nights at Studio Coast. You could get a ticket for both nights for a special price of 12,500 yen but due to work commitments I could only go to the second night.
I guess this was all promotion for their latest album ‘National Treasures – The Complete Singles‘ which in a way seems fairly pointless given that it was released back in October of last year! Still, I’m certainly not one to complain and was glad to see them live for the 4th or 5th time.
Like last time, I went with my school manager Shinobu and was delighted to Continue reading
‘The Man With the Golden Gun‘ (1974) doesn’t follow the original novel too closely as that was set in Jamaica whereas the film is located in the Far East. It is a fairly entertaining story for a number of reasons; a great villain in the form of Scaramanga; a classic henchman in the shape of psycho dwarf Nick Nack; a beautiful Bond girl and of course the exotic locations of Thailand, Macau and Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal (below) is seen on 26 minutes but in the present day it’s all very different apart from the location. The terminal is now part of the Shun Tak Centre shopping mall.
Bond tries to get in a taxi just over the road from there with the Continue reading
Tokyo Fox (東京狐) 