New York Filming Locations: Sliver (1993)

Posted on December 7, 2012 by tokyofox

In 1993, one year on from ‘Basic Instinct‘, Sharon Stone appeared in another sexual thriller called ‘Sliver‘ where she played Carly Norris; a book editor living in New York City. Having moved into the complex (below) at 211 Madison Avenue at East 36th Street (given as 113 East 38th Street in the film) she learns that some of the previous female tenants were murdered and police suspect that there is a serial killer in the building. After becoming romantically involved with building owner Zeke (William Baldwin) she discovers that he had the building secretly wired with hidden cameras and had been watching the lives of each tenant including Carly. She decides to move out and find alternative accommodation upon suspecting Zeke might be the serial killer.

  

In Central Park at the Resevoir bridge (below) on West 94th Street is where Carly goes jogging with a mysterious hooded man hot on her trail but when he passes her and turns round its revealed that its just Jack Lansford (Tom Berenger). He’s a fellow resident of the same building and along with Zeke, was also romantically pursuing Carly and has a part to play in how this film, based on the Ira Levin novel of the same name, concludes.

 

Posted in Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

New York Filming Locations: When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Posted on December 4, 2012 by tokyofox

When it comes to certain scenes stealing a movie there’s not too many which are more famous than the fake orgasm scene around the 43 minute mark in 1989’s ‘When Harry Met Sally‘. Following a discussion between the two on the topic of Harry’s one night stands and his boast that none of these ladies had faked an orgasm, Sally sceptically proves his theory wrong by faking a climax amid the intimacy of the room. That’s not the best moment though as that erm comes moments later when one lady (actually the director, Rob Reiner’s mother) says “I’ll have what she’s having” which is delivered with perfect comic timing.

      P1010450

This sandwich shop is Katz’s Deli (above) on 205 East Houston Street and the table where they sat even has a sign saying ‘You are sitting where Harry met Sally’ not that I knew that at the time! We went in the place which operates a take-a-ticket billing system but it was so so busy inside that I really couldn’t be bothered with it all and so decided against it.

Long before all that, is Washington Square Park (below) in Greenwich Village where Harry Burns  (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) arrive after she gives him a lift to New York after they graduated from the University of Chicago. What then follows is a load of scenes which show them failing to find love whilst occasionally meeting other by chance. As their friendship grows they are faced with the question of whether or not men and women can be friends without sex getting in the way.

Whenharrymetsally21  Whenharrymetsally17  Whenharrymetsally22  P1010451

Posted in Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

TF Film Review: Skyfall (2012)

Posted on December 1, 2012 by tokyofox

All good things come to those who wait is a very apt phrase given its been four years since ‘Quantum Of Solace‘ not to mention the extra 5 week wait for us movie fans in Japan. There has been a lot of hype surrounding the release of ‘Skyfall‘ which heightened by the fact that its also 50 years since the first Bond film, ‘Dr No‘ was released. That shouldn’t affect one’s judgement of this third film to star Daniel Craig in the secret agent role. However, I have to say that this isn’t just a great Bond film but it is indeed a fantastic film in itself.

First things first though, and one disappointment at the outset is that there is still no traditional gun barrel opener. The pre-titles Turkish scenes in Istanbul and Adana were thrilling and left me short of breath as the opening titles kicked in. Adele’s lovely theme tune is, unlike the last couple (which I do actually like), one where you can actually sing the title of the film.

I was pretty much spoiler free going into this film (albeit not quite to the extent of that of ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ back in the Summer) other than knowing that it had something to do with M’s past coming back to haunt her. Judi Dench’s character comes out from the background of past films to basically co-star alongside Daniel Craig. Together in this I think were both absolutely brilliant with the latter wrestling with both his emotions and his physical and psychological attributes which have served him so well.

Unlike ‘Quantum of Solace‘ the plot of ‘Skyfall‘ is actually understandable and very topical of modern times with its storyline but there are also a few other bits to keep us fans really happy such as the introduction (re-inroduction?) of Q, the backstory on Moneypenny, some of Bond’s family history and the return of the Aston Martin DB5 car (from 1964’s ‘Goldfinger’) which doesn’t make too much sense but it’s a nice nod to the past.

As ever there was a good range of locations taking in the aforementioned Turkey as well as China, England, Scotland and even Japan with Hashima in Nagasaki a.k.a. Gunkanjima (Battleship island) kind of being used as the ‘Dead City’ island retreat of antagonist Silva (Javier Bardem) although in the film it’s off the coast of Macau. The long shots are real but sadly this was all filmed on set at Pinewood Studios. Nevertheless, I’d still love to visit this island one day.

I really did love seeing the scenery from back home of London and the Scottish Highlands or maybe I’m just a misty-eyed Brit living abroad! It was also nice to see BBC News’ Huw Edwards as well as CNN’s Wolf Blitzer perform their cameo news anchor duties within the film.

The name Skyfall refers to Bonds family estate and childhood home in Scotland (filmed in reality in Surrey) where he retreats to with M leaving a trail behind so that Silva can find them and thus turn the tables as they had always been one step behind him up until then. Along with the innkeeper they then basically defend from within with limited resources akin to that of ‘The A-Team‘ or even ‘Home Alone‘! The ending took me by surprise and I was so thankful that I didn’t know what was going to happen beforehand. It is a long film but its 142 minute entirety thankfully passed me by with relative ease.

I’m now just relieved that I can finally read other reviews, listen to a backlog of 007 related podcasts and look into adding to my already substantial list of Bond movie locations visited. Bring on the next installment.

Skyfall_wallpaper  skyfall_image

Tokyo Fox Rating 9/10

Posted in Films, James Bond | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Cycling Tokyo’s Gourmet Snack Track Trail in one Day!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by tokyofox

The idea of this came up back in May when I was discussing my ‘ten shrines of Tokyo‘ bicycle tour with Asif but it took until October 19th for it to finally take off as we could never find a date when we were both free. Having done 85km only a week before I wasn’t exactly in a rush to do another one but with Asif departing Japan at the end of the month it was the only time possible. Having rained pretty much non-stop in the 48 hour build-up we weren’t even sure this one would take place but thankfully it was fine and quite a pleasant sunny day in the end.

This was not an original themed tour as it was basically copied from this fine site. The idea was to cycle around Tokyo on a mission different to the regular ‘find-it-snap-it-move-on’ type trip I usually undertake. Japan is famed for its great food and this journey took in a handful of its most traditional gourmet food shops.

1) Monaka ice-cream (¥250) @ Mitsubachi, 3-38-10 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku – It’s not everyday that one has ice-cream for breakfast but we were basically waiting for this establishment to open! Can’t say it was worth it though for this flavour was not of my liking but I managed to get through my half of it before passing the rest on to Asif.

 

2) Katsu-sando (¥650) @ Mansei, 2-21 Kanda Sudacho, Chiyoda-ku – This box of six small sandwiches was also a shared effort in order to save on costs and appetite. Unfortunate that, as this was absolutely lovely and I could easily have had the whole lot on my own.

     

3) Soba (¥600) @ Matsuya, 1-13 Kanda Sudacho, Chiyoda-ku – This is certainly not the famous Japanese donburi restaurant chain (there is actually one across the road though!) but a place which actually survived WWII and serves soba. It was very nice inside but for me I’m afraid to say that it didn’t taste too different to any other soba. After a misdirection or two on leaving this place Asif had a a bit of an accident with the back of a car at a busy junction which damaged his bicycle a little and also left quite a big cut on the inside of his right thigh but naturally he carried on!

    

4) Liver katsu (¥140) @ Hisagoya Abe, 3-1-12 Tsukuda, Chuo-ku – The address given in the aforementioned website which inspired this trip was found to be empty and we were actually on our way to the next location when Asif suggested we could get liver katsu at a place we passed. They didn’t have any but pointed us in the direction of across the road where we bought a couple of delicious liver katsu’s which surprised me as I thought this would be the least appetising of the treats. In looking for the address of this ‘new’ place for this site I took a business card and was most surprised to discover that this was the place we originally wanted but it had moved!

     

5) Monja-yaki (¥1500) @ Monkichi 3-8-10 Tsukishima, Chuo-ku – The place of our intended visit was closed down but just a stone’s throw from there was Monkichi which was a busy place where pictures of Japanese celebrities don the walls giving recognition of their visit. Monja-yaki is basically a pan-fried batter with various finely chopped ingredients mixed into it which is then eaten with a tiny spatula. The Tsukishima area is where the dish is said to have originated. Usually we’d have eaten another one or two of these dishes but as we had a few more gourmet snack stops to go we had to move on.

     

6) Taiyaki (¥140) @ Wakaba Taiyaki, 1-10 Wakaba, Shinjuku-ku – Whilst I went through a short phase of buying these fish-shaped sweets a few years ago I soon stopped. This  traditional shop near Yotsuya Station is supposedly one of the best three taiyaki shops in Tokyo. Its basically a waffle sandwich baked crisp and full of Anko (sweet beans) which is often used in traditional Japanese sweets.

      

7) Nikuman (¥360) @ Gojuuban, 3-2 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku – The final stop on our gourmet tour of Tokyo was this place which had a wide range of these steamed buns. We went for the large sized original nikuman which was filled with hot and juicy meat.

 

We washed down the nikuman with a couple of beers from the nearby ‘7-Eleven’ convenience store. Rather than go for the cheap ones we thought we should keep in with the theme of the day and get a Grand Kirin in a fancy bottle and then consumed it all within the luxury confines of a backstreet! It was a bit disappointing that our intended sushi place in Ginza had closed down but we still visited seven food places. It was great fun for me to do such a ride with a good friend whilst doing far more at each place than just taking a photo.

  

Distance: 53.26 km   Time: 8.29 hrs   Calories Burned: 2884

Posted in Cycling | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Tokyo Daytripper: Tackling Takao From The Bottom

Posted on November 25, 2012 by tokyofox

Since climbing Mount Fuji five years ago I have had the idea in mind to climb the 3776m mountain from the very bottom rather than the fifth station which is located about half way up. However, with a limited climbing season (only July & August), very few back-to-back days off and overseas trips during my long August holidays I am still yet to get round to that but as ever I’m hopeful about next year being the one.

In the meantime I thought I’d take the much shorter trip out to Mount Takao which is an hour away from Shinjuku and standing tall at a whopping 599m!! The idea was to climb it rather than taking the chairlift or cable car which about 98% of people do. Furthermore, it was the “koyo” (Autumn foliage) season so I thought it would be nice to climb it whilst seeing the beautiful red, brown and yellow leaves.

 

My girlfriend and I took the #6 route which begins down the road to the left of the Cable Car station and it wasn’t long until we were at Biwa Falls which I’m very interested in as it’s basically a place for self discipline. One uses all their spiritual inner strength to remain under the cascading water for as long as possible in a challenge which shows strength of a different nature compared to the high-adrenaline ones I usually prefer. I first saw Jack Osbourne do such a thing on his ‘Adrenaline Junkie’ show a few years ago and Anthony Bourdain also experienced it on his ‘No Reservations’ show. Maybe next Summer for me!

 

There was a steady flow of hikers taking this route akin to a kind of conveyor-belt tourism. Winding up a valley, this trail was an interesting one which took us past small streams and also included stepping stones at one stage too.

 

I’ve lost count of how many times I have been up Mount Takao but I have to confess that a fair few of those times have been just to experience the “Beer Mount” which is the absolutely fantastic all-you-can-eat-and-drink beer garden observation deck. Sadly that is only during the Summer months so we couldn’t enjoy that and had to settle for a solitary stick of ‘dango’ which was fine but not worth the wait.

 

Tengu is a character I was interested in seeing more of since I heard about him whilst doing my research for last months ‘Cycling Tokyo’s Most Haunted Sights…In One Day’ challenge. These Tengu creatures are a common part of Japanese folklore and naturally they are rumoured to still hang out on the peaks of Mount Takao though we never spotted these ferocious masters of martial arts! Surprising that! According to the travel CNN site “the humble and pure of heart have nothing to fear from the Tengu, but woe betide the pompous and arrogant.”

          

We didn’t spend much time at the top as it was only back in September that we last came and were about the only ones on the mountain top! Not so this time as the amount of people was a ridiculous number for any place let alone a mountain! It really was more packed more than Shibuya Crossing. I included this in my list about whats great about living and working in Tokyo back in March but having experienced the chaos of this “koyo” viewing season I may take it off that list!

     

The descend wasn’t really enjoyable as it was basically just a quick, steep, winding road rather than an actual hiking trail and it was packed too as many decided that it was a better option than joining the huge lines for the cable car and chair lifts. Overall, the #6 trail up is highly recommended for a truer taste of nature but the koyo was actually at its best at the summit and down at the bottom and as nice as it was it wasn’t quite as nice as what I saw last year in Chichibu.

 

Posted in Japan Travel, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

TF Interview…..With Author Tim Andrewartha

Posted on November 22, 2012 by tokyofox

When he’s not eating pickled plums, grooming his sideburns or teaching the future perfect continuous Tim Andrewartha is a Tokyo-based writer who had his first novel ‘Vitality‘ published earlier this year. TF caught up with the man we call Tim Andrewauthor (see what we’ve done there?!) last week over an Earth beer or three and probed him deeply about his book.

 

Talk us through the process of how this book came about then. The idea of Vitality started off as a short story that I wrote many years ago. It was inspired by reading Philip K Dick and cynically speculated about the extent in which a giant soft drink corporation might be willing to go. Originally the liquid was black rather than purple. When I decided to write a novel I thought this idea was worth exploring further.

So how far are you willing to go to publicise your book? Well, only so far really. I certainly wouldn’t be prepared to change my answers so as to promote an interviewer’s website if that’s what you’re getting at!

‘Vitality‘ actually came out on Valentines Day this year didn’t it? Do you think many couples used your book as foreplay? Well, my publisher’s intention for releasing it on Valentine’s Day was to offer an alternative for those readers who aren’t interested in the fluffy mainstream fodder that’s churned out on this day and would rather open their mind to a mind-bending alternative reality. So I think it’s unlikely that it’s been used for foreplay, but you never know.

Do you have an idea in mind for a sequel, prequel or a stand-alone novel? I’ve written another novel which I’m now editing. It’s set in Tokyo and it’s about a missing girl who reappears in a comic. The protagonist sets out to rescue her with a machine called The Reality Converter.

Oh, so this could be an opportunity for me to expand my Tokyo film and book locations further? Actually I haven’t mentioned any specific places by name, other than some of it taking place somewhere in Shinjuku, so that might be a bit tricky.

I do actually think ‘Vitality‘ would work well as a film so if miracles happen who would play Stylo Green and Emulla? I reckon Edward Norton would be good as Stylo Green, the paranoid graphic designer, and Scarlet Johansson would be good as Emulla, the rebellious redhead with a sexy voice.

What kind of reader do you think would be interested in reading ‘Vitality’? I think it would mainly appeal to readers who enjoy dystopian sci-fi (such as Philip K Dick, Jeff Noon or China Miéville).

There’s some stuff early on in the book about dirty phone calls. What research did you do on this matter? I never really do any research for my stories actually. I think that’s one of the advantages of writing this kind of imaginative fiction.

What have you yourself been reading recently? Some of the best books I’ve read recently are Channel SK1N by Jeff Noon, The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, Railsea by China Miéville and Helen Oyeyemi’s Mr Fox.

Are you sure you don’t mean Tokyo Fox?! Look, I’ve told you already, I’m just not willing to sink so low as to shamelessly endorse your site in this interview.

Every Tom, Dick & Willy has a book out at the moment ready for the Christmas market so why would anyone want to buy your book?! So they could submerse themselves in a strange world where the hinges of reality are loose and about to come apart at any moment. If that’s not the ideal escape from the tacky lights and shopping kerfuffle, then I don’t know what is.

How would you describe your book in a single tweet? A man who works for a “life-changing” soft drink company starts to suspect the truth that lies beneath their marketing subterfuge.

 

Tokyo Fox Review: Anyone who has seen ‘The Truman Show‘ (1998) will probably be able to empathise with Stylo Green; the main protagonist in this debut novel by Tim Andrewartha. Stylo works for ‘Vitality‘ which is a soft drink company promising to change peoples lives but as he is warned about their evilness by girlfriend Emulla it seems that, like Truman, there is no escape once he discovers something peculiar going on regarding his colleagues behavioural changes.

Andrewartha’s first book offers a hint of horror but naturally it’s mainly a science-fiction story set in an alternative version of the present day and whilst the fairly original plot is a stretch of the imagination it’s not so far removed that you can’t believe it wouldn’t happen somewhere in the world.

The nameless city where the hero Stylo works is an interesting place full of strange characters reading like a scene straight out of the Cantina Bar in Star Wars. There are some interesting quirky references throughout such as a woman being able to get favours for the simple reason that she speaks or the barman of a bar being a prune.

As someone who is not exactly a bookworm this novel admittedly took me a while to get really into but once past the background half I soon lapped it up and it was a real page-turner and no I don’t mean I was thankful of flicking through the pages just so I could get to the end!

You can follow Tim on Twitter here.

‘Vitality‘ is avaiable now on Amazon. Don’t delay, order today…or something like that!

Posted in Books, English Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A New Addition To The Family #4 – Sioned

Posted on November 19, 2012 by tokyofox

Sioned Poppy Evans was born on the 13th November at 5.27am (Melbourne time) weighing in at 8Ib4. Congratulations to my eldest sister Ruth and her husband Carl for their third child and below are a handful of pictures taken with all their family present. The name is pronounced /ʃɒned/ and is Welsh (for that is where my brother-in-law is from) for Janet or Janey although my nephew Eifion seems to think she’s been named Sonic! My niece Anesta’s still not sure whether they should keep Sioned or not!

                   

Posted in Family | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dining Out: Croc-ing Out At A Cameroon Restaurant

Posted on November 16, 2012 by tokyofox

It’s fair to say that I have been to a wide range of international restaurants in Tokyo recently. Of course there are many, many French, Indian, Italian, Thai, Spanish restaurants among other popular ones but I have been seeking out the rarer ethnic places and one such place was ‘O Village’ in Ikebukuro which my girlfriend and I visited on one wet Sunday back in September. With CNN blaring out of the TV screens the very nice, chatty owner greeted us and was only too happy to answer our basic typical questions about the place.

  

O Village is actually a Cameroon and Jamaican bar & restaurant which serves up some very cheap 500 yen lunch meals such as peanut-flavored fish and chicken curry and staple North African dish couscous. And yes I do know that Cameroon is actually in West Africa.

  

Until they burst onto the football scene at the Italia ’90 World Cup Finals Cameroon were very much an unknown entity but boy did we know about them by the end of that tournament! Despite qualifying for many world cup finals’ since then they have never lived up to the exploits of Roger Milla, Oman Biyick and co in 1990. The Lions, as they are known, were a hit with the public at that tournament and will always have a special place in my heart too. Thankfully though they never quite made it past England in the quarter finals but they didn’t half give us a scare.

  

As you might expect the cheap-eats (there are four in all) are not so filling so we had a couple of other home-style cooking dishes of which one really stuck out! That was the Crocodile BBQ set (the menu also features a BBQ rabbit set) which seemed a little over-priced at 1500 yen but then again how freely available is crocodile in this country?! To be fair, it was very nice albeit a bit rubbery and quite chewy and I don’t really know why I never tried it whilst travelling around Australia which is perhaps the most famous place where crocodiles are concerned.

 

The bar is overlooking a street running parallel to the overly-crowded Sunshine Street and its 3rd floor location in the Dai-go Nakamura Bldg at 1-22-13 Higashi-Ikebukuro offers a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the busy shopping areas nearby.

Posted in Food & Drink, Sport | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

New York Filming Locations: Black Swan (2010)

Posted on November 13, 2012 by tokyofox

‘Black Swan‘ won many accolades and even though its not my usual type of film I do sometimes make an effort to watch these hyped-up Hollywood award-winning films. The fact that Queen Amidala/Padme (Natalie Portman) from the Star Wars prequels was in it was another reason to see it and I was actually intrigued by the dark side (no Star Wars reference intended) of it all. Watching it was one thing but doing a location was another but as I was meeting a couple of people for lunch near the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts I thought I might as well kill two birds with one stone.

 

Nina (Portman) exits the Lincoln Center subway station between West 63rd and 64 Street and enters the Lincoln Center on Columbus Avenue. 

Posted in Movie Locations, Nth American Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

TV Review: Anthony Bourdain No Reservations: Japan Cook It Raw

Posted on November 10, 2012 by tokyofox

After nine seasons, one of my favourite shows came to an end this week with the final episode taking place in Brooklyn but my review is of an episode which aired way back in May. I didn’t actually watch it until a couple of months ago and this particular one offered an alternative to the shows usual format. Following his trips to Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido in previous seasons, Anthony was back in Japan yet again but this time it was for a gastronomic event called “Cook It Raw.”

The programme started with Anthony in Tokyo not so long after the big earthquake disaster where he met Ivan Orkin; a New Yorker who has become a very successful chef over here with his Ivanramen restaurant and instant ramen. However Ivan took Tony to a traditional eel restaurant (below) where the chef kills the eel and then breaks it down into all different organs and they inevitably discuss how Tokyo has changed since the disaster on March 11th.

 

Anthony then talked to one founding chef of the “Cook It Raw” movement and discussed signature dishes but agreed that they don’t like them as they dont want their biggest success to be all they’re remembered for.

Dave Chang is a “Cook It Raw” regular and his story from his younger days was the highlight of this show which is sad as he took Anthony to a Lawson convenience store (above) which used to be his main source of meals. As someone who regularly has to depend on convenience store food in-between lessons I can appreciate how good these places are.

Once they leave Tokyo behind its “Cook It Raw” time in Ishikawa-ken which held less interest for me. This is an event whereby 15 of the world’s best chefs are placed in an unfamiliar landscape to forage (this word was used frequently throughout the show’s duration) for local ingredients as they let their creative genius run amok before serving up the resulting dishes to culinary experts. As much as I have learned to appreciate food more and more in recent times its still very hard for me to get excited about these kind of creations whereby chefs seemingly just stick a mushroom, a leaf and a twig on a plate and the tasters rave about it. However, without these experimenters, the world of gastronomy wouldn’t keep moving forward.

If you’ve never seen the show then try one of the other Japan episodes as they’re far more interesting. This is one for the fans wanting to see something a little different from their favourite witty, sarcastic and profanity-using American chef/TV personality.

Posted in Food & Drink, TV Shows | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments