Cycling to Tokyo’s Best 25 Sights…in 1 Day Pt I

Posted on November 19, 2010 by tokyofox

The Japanese have a bit of a reputation for their ‘click and tick’ method of sightseeing on package tour holidays around the world. Now I’m also no stranger to this kind of travelling as proved by my trips to Asia, Europe and Africa in recent years. Always on the lookout for the next cycling assignment I came up with the idea of cycling around all 25 of the sights mentioned in ‘Fodor’s Tokyo 25 Best’ guide with a couple of extra ones thrown in for good measure. As with my previous cycling adventures the idea was to just get in there, take my photo and then get out!

Remember, remember the 5th of November! That’s the day when I leave my place in the north of Tokyo at 6.15am in order to maximise daylight. Within 25 minutes I am at Rikugien Gardens in Komagome. Needless to say, its closed but that makes getting my photo outside easier and less embarrassing.

Likewise, just after 7:00 am in Ueno Park where I go to get my snaps of the Tokyo National Museum and the National Museum of Western Art.

 

After three closed places it’s not exactly been the most fascinating insight into Tokyo life, but the next place is a big one in the way of Asakusa Senso-ji. I’m quite surprised to reach the place from behind and its open but fairly empty as I take my bike through the place and get my picture in front of the main temple when beforehand I thought I’d just have to settle for the main gate at the other end of the shopping street which one starts from when arriving by train or boat. I get that one too but as I take it my legs are shaking so much.

The reason is that only moments before I had a crash. I was cycling down the path that runs parallel to the usually busy and over-crowded shopping street. I had the right of way but suddenly a young-ish Japanese guy shot across in front of me. In true Japanese fashion he didn’t anticipate any danger, and I couldn’t quite brake in time. We collided and both fell off. I was thankfully fine and so was my bike. I asked him if he was OK (he didn’t bother to ask me and neither did he say anything) and then told him to use his eyes in future. No hard feelings but I hope he suffered some damage!

By 8:00 am I am on the other side of the Sumida-gawa river at the Edo-Tokyo Museum which I have visited in the past but I don’t recognise it on arrival, and I cycle round the place twice looking for a good photo stop, but I can’t find one due to the surrounding buildings getting in the way. I settle for one of the museum’s backside taken from the carpark.

The Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo is next but getting there is no picnic and I end up near Ginza so have to backtrack a bit (but not for the last time!). I’m aware that you can’t take bicycles near the grounds of the Palace but I think I’ll risk it and see what happens as I want to get my bicycle in most, if not all the photos which, like a kid, I still feel I need to prove that it is all valid.

I’m wheeling my bike quite near to the photo spot and put it up against the short fence and am hopeful of getting my tripod and camera set up for a quick shot when I hear the inevitable shouting from the guard. I say OK and ignore him. I go to take my photo and he shouts again and then some more. I get angry and say that I understand but I’m going to take my photo first and then leave. In true Japanese style there’s no room for slight deviation from the rules and he keeps shouting on at me as if I am a terrorist or something. He even says the solitary word ‘bicycle’ in English as if I haven’t understood him moments before and had a short Japanese conversation with him……..albeit in slanging terms! I relent and walk my bike away and return a minute later on my own and take a photo.

I go to the National Diet Building next and it’s fairly non-eventful as is the Yasakuni Shrine apart from a bit of effort in getting there and catching the skin of my hand whilst folding away my tripod. Luckily, it’s just a minor war wound to remember this trip by.

The National Museum of Modern Art is completely new to me and so it takes me a while to locate even though it’s nearby.

I then pass by the Imperial Palace East Gardens entrance and get a picture of this as technically this is what is listed in the Top 25 book. It’s around 10:00 am when I reach Hibiya Park which is also in the vicinity and I even treat myself to a toilet stop, a bit of breakfast and a very short break.

 

‘Cycling to Tokyo’s Best 25 Sights…in 1 Day’ continues in Pt II.

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Trip To Toho Studios

Posted on November 17, 2010 by tokyofox

Toho Studio’s in Seijogakuenmae (on the Odakyu line) is Japan’s largest and most famous film studios and is famous for making TV programmes and films such as the Seven Samurai (one of the greatest and most influential Japanese films ever and the inspiration for the Magnificent Seven) and Godzilla and its many dreadful sequels. As I had a free afternoon last Friday I thought I would go and see the place to find out a little bit more about it and see what I could discover.

The studio’s aren’t exactly easy to find as they don’t feature on any maps in and around the station. I only had a postcode (157-8561) to go on and my instincts and when I did stumble upon it in Seijo 1-chome my expectations were pretty low in terms of being able to go in and have a nose about the place or even a tour. I anticpated pretty much nothing and that is exactly what I got!! Instead I had to just settle for a couple of photo’s outside the place which in some sad way I was content with as I had been very close to giving up on finding the place on a couple of occasions.

  

Update: The address is 1-4-1 Seijo, Setagaya-ku.

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TF Film Review: ダーリンは外国人My Darling Is A Foreigner (2010)

Posted on November 15, 2010 by tokyofox

This is a Japanese film which came out on DVD last month and my girlfriend pounced on the chance to rent out a copy. I was quite nervous about watching it as its about a foreign guy going out with a Japanese girl and showing how their two worlds collide. ‘My Darling…’ is a Japanese comedy film, based on the manga series ‘Is he turning Japanese?’ and centres around the relationship of Saori and her American boyfriend Tony who is not only fluent in Japanese but is also deeply interested in Japanese culture. Of course, like many of us foreigners living in Japan, he doesn’t always understand certain parts of this culture. Without giving away too many spoilers the movie focuses on where their relationship is heading and the disapproval of Saori’s father to his daughter marrying a foreigner. Needless to say that it echoes of similarities between my girlfriend and I as well as many other international relationships in this country.

To be honest ‘My Darling…’ is fairly rubbish but nevertheless it entertained me for its 100 minute duration. There are a few subtleties in there which I can relate to but I imagine would be missed by the Japanese who watch this. Main character Tony is fluent in Japanese but when he asks for directions he faces the comeback “Sorry, I don’t speak English” which is a little bewildering seeing as he asked the guy in his language. This happens to me sometimes and the Japanese often seem to panic when you speak them and they don’t even listen to you and think you’re speaking English!

A scene in a cinema where Tony laughs a couple of seconds before the Japanese audience was something I have experienced before which is due to them laughing once they’ve read the subtitles rather than actually hearing the line.

Overall, I guess this film was only of interest due to the vague similarity to my own situation and given that the majority of westerners in Japan are teachers I was a little disappointed that it didn’t follow that route so closely but maybe that would be an even worse movie to see!

Tokyo Fox Rating 6/10

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

Posted on November 13, 2010 by tokyofox

You can read ‘On The Trail Of John Rain Pt I’ here.

With ten book locations under my belt (would have been twelve if I’d been unable to find a couple more) I was then happy to cycle onto an area that I know well. I work in Shibuya twice a week so knew where most of the remaining places were. Very near to my workplace was ‘Hatou’ (below) which was in the first sequel ‘Hard Rain‘ and was where Rain tells Harry that the people following him are CIA.

 

I would be returning back that way later but thought it best to get it out of the way while it was light and as I knew it would be a quick stop. I then followed the main road down to Ebisu where I had to take a steep road up to near Yebisu Garden Place where after some cycling around I finally discovered ‘Rue Favart’ Cafe (below).

I then backtracked to ‘Tsukumo Ramen’ restaurant (below) where I actually stopped and went in as I wanted to sample the cheese ramen which it is famous for. Rain-san would have been very disappointed that I sat at the counter rather than the safer option of having my back to a wall with a view of the street. The soup, noodles and cheese on top were all very nice but there was a bit too much sweetcorn and other vegetables in there for my liking.

  

Next up was a brief stop in Shibuya to see the ‘109’ building (mentioned in ‘Rain Fall‘) and by the time I left there (below) and headed on to Harajuku for a trio of John Rain hangouts it was very dark and I needed my bicycle lights on.

‘Volontaire’ (below) is a jazz bar on the way from Shibuya and featured in Eisler’s fifth book ‘The Last Assassin’ and according to his website was where “Rain went to grapple with his conscience and doubts”.

The next two were in the heart of Harajuku’s fashionable Takeshita Dori albeit slightly off the main tourist trap street. They were both frequented by Rain in ‘Hard Rain‘ which was the first sequel. Tatsu, Kanezaki and Rain met up at ‘Christie Tea & Cake’ (below) to put together some puzzle pieces and this was very easy to find.

‘Jardin De Luseine’ restaurant (below) was not so straight-forward to locate. Rain ambushed Station chief Biddle here.

 

After a quick stop in Shinjuku (below) at the Studio Alta Building (a popular meeting place for people and referenced briefly in ‘Rain Fall‘) my final port of call was ‘Ben’s Cafe’ (below) on a backstreet in Takadanobaba and was where Rain had a cup of coffee and shared some information with Kanezaki at the end of the third book ‘Rain Storm‘.

This cafe has long been advertising in a Tokyo listings magazine so I kind of wanted to go there. I had intended to meet a friend here at 4-5pm but that never materialised as I was a few hours behind schedule. Sadly this place was not so well lit and so it is difficult to make out a sign with its name on.

  

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

Posted on November 10, 2010 by tokyofox

You can read ‘On The Trail Of John Rain – Prelude’ here.

At just after 12.15 I arrived at my first stop in Nihombashi which was ‘Cafe Peshaworl’ (below). This appeared in the second book ‘Hard Rain‘ and was where Rain and Tatsu determined how to take out yakuza killer Murakami. I’d bought a new big tripod only a few days prior to this adventure and was able to use it outside this cafe which got a few bewildered looks from the Softbank (mobile phone carrier) shop next door.

 

On to Ginza next for ‘Ginza-yu’ bath-house (above) and ‘D. Heartman’ of which the latter bar had closed down. After that I went to the Imperial Hotel in nearby Chiyoda-ku and took the lift up to a very high floor to see the ‘Old Imperial Lounge’ but couldn’t really go into the actual lounge as it was busy with people waiting for seats and I of course wasn’t wanting to stump up a few thousand yen to get lunch. Roppongi was my next port of call as I tried (but failed) to locate ‘Club Alfie’ Jazz Club. Well I found the given address but it wasn’t there so maybe its moved or the Eisler curse has struck again!

Minato-ku features prominently throughout the book series with seven locations dotted around Nishi-Azabu and Minami-Aoyama. I was unable t0 find ‘Bo Sono Ni’ which I think might also have gone out of business as I couldn’t even really find it on the internet in advance of this cycle trip. At this point I was beginning to feel it wasn’t going so well but thankfully ‘Monsoon Cafe’ (below) seemed more normal and certainly open for business as it was populated with a fair few customers.

Just round the back of that cafe was ‘These Library Lounge’ (below) although I’m not sure what this place with a strange English name actually is.

As it was mid-afternoon ‘Body and Soul’ Jazz club (below) was closed but there were some staff inside who were wondering what a foreign guy was doing outside their club with a tripod and camera. One woman came out but I got rid of her sharpish by saying I just wanted a photo. As I was packing away my tripod a guy came out and tried to speak to me in English. He asked me if I liked Jazz to which I quite bluntly said no and that it featured in a book and that was the end of that conversation apart from the inevitability of being asked where I was from!

According to my addresses, ‘Blue Note Tokyo’ (below) should have been three doors away but it clearly wasn’t so after looking around for a bit (which happened throughout the day quite a lot and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was on bicycle this challenge would have been far too much of a task on foot) so I left thinking another John Rain location had gone begging. However, as I cycled on I ended up spotting it a few minutes away in a completely different address. This place was pivotal in the story as it was where Rain met Midori; the daughter of the man he had assassinated at the start of the book.

The final two locations in Minami Aoyama both featured in the original book ‘Rain Fall‘. ‘Tsuta Coffee Shop’ (below) was a tiny rundown place on a backstreet with a long counter bar as far as I could see (for I didn’t enter most of these places) and was where Rain took Midori to talk to her about her father.

On the other hand ‘Las Chicas’ (below) was a very large and popular cafe and restaurant with loads of outdoor seats full of customers enjoying the Autumn afternoon sunshine.

This is a particular favourite of Rain as it has different points on ingress and egress and a view of the street from inside which are the kind of things considered to be important to such a person who lives his life on the edge.

You can read ‘On The Trail Of John Rain Pt II’ here.

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On The Trail Of John Rain (雨) – Prelude

Posted on November 7, 2010 by tokyofox

I had a rare Saturday off work last month so took the opportunity to embark on my latest cycling challenge. Unlike my past ‘Cycling the Yamanote Line’ and ‘Cycling the A-Z of Tokyo Stations’ adventures this one involved no stations.

I decided to follow in the footsteps of half American-half Japanese assassin John Rain who is the creation of author Barry Eisler. There are six books in the series (and even his latest non-Rain book, ‘Fault Line‘, has a subtle reference to him) with four of them being set in part in Tokyo, particularly the first one ‘Rain Fall‘.

I came across a list of Tokyo locations on Eisler’s website a couple of months ago and since then I have been keen to go round these coffee shops, restaurants, jazz bars and hotels which have been name-checked and referenced throughout the novels.

Thankfully it was a lovely Sunny day and I left my apartment in North Tokyo at around 11.15am following the main road all the way to Nihonbashi which is about 14km away. Unlike the stations tasks this was to be a lot harder as I was reliant on the postcodes which are far from easy to use.

Unlike the UK there are no street names in Tokyo but rather areas and blocks within an area are numbered such as 1-29-21. The first number denotes an area of blocks known as chome which often need an ability to read the number in kanji (which I can thankfully do), the second number is the number of the individual block and the third one is the number of the house. Even Japanese people find it difficult to locate places as is shown by the number of them walking around with printed-out maps. I had never even thought about how to work out these addresses until a couple of weeks before this challenge and with so many places (about 20) to track down in one day a bicycle was very much needed given the huge number of times I would lose my way.

You can read ‘On The Trail Of John Rain Part I’ here.

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TF Film Review: Knight And Day (2010)

Posted on November 4, 2010 by tokyofox

When I first heard of this film a few months ago I had no real desire to see it and the critical reviews didn’t do too much more to make me want to see it. However, on one of the mornings last week I came across a show on Japanese TV which was heavily promoting this film and I guess it did what it intended as I got sucked in! Its big-name lead stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz were being interviewed at the Tokyo premiere in a way which as an English speaker I find frustrating to watch.

Of course I’m not so arrogant to think that there shouldn’t be translations for the many fans here in Japan but it does mean that the conversation (if it can even be called that!) just doesn’t flow with Cruise just saying one short line which is then translated by an out-of-shot woman and then he says another line and this process continues on and on.

 

Anyway, I realised after watching this preview show that this kind of film was maybe right up my street in terms of fast-moving action, a bit of comedy and a very simple storyline amid some exciting world locations. One of these places included Seville which made me happy as I went there at the start of this year and so already have photos of some of the landmarks which featured in the latter half of the movie.

Anyway, I watched this flick last weekend and particularly enjoyed it. Sure, the plot is a bit thin on the ground, has you questioning why some things are happening and is full of some action scenes which really are beyond belief. However, it’s good fun, fast-paced and its two main stars deliver what they were paid to do in terms of glamour, their celebrity power and commitment.

Tom Cruise plays a spy on the run called Roy Miller which was a surprising name as it was also the name of Matt Damon’s character in Green Zone earlier this year (an interesting comparison of the two can be seen here.) Of course Knight and Day won’t win any awards but it kept me entertained for its duration and I can’t really ask for any more than that.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

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A Spook-tacular Halloween (2010)

Posted on October 31, 2010 by tokyofox

It’s getting more difficult to think of something original to do at Halloween in my classes. Last year I made a load of new Halloween flashcards and used Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ in a variety of different ways to help the students along with their English whilst (hopefully) creating an enjoyable atmosphere.

To be honest I wasn’t really gonna top that as it was only a few months on from Jackson’s death and so listening to one of his songs as a gap-fill or jigsaw listening was hot stuff. For adults I mostly just recycled that idea but I did also introduce the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme from Ray Parker Jnr. which, whilst no piece of cake, was a bit easier than ‘Thriller‘ especially when I gave some students the missing words albeit in the wrong order. Listening to this classic in turn led to a discussion on either the film, if they believe in ghosts or whether they had seen one and usually me teaching them the word sceptical which is what I am although I do like watching all that kind of nonsense.

I also managed to use my Simpson’s Horror Edition Halloween Top Trump cards a few times in the name of comparatives (e.g. Devil Ned is more evil than Zombie Skinner). As for the kids it was pretty much the same sh*t different year although I did come up with the idea of incorporating yet more Star Wars stuff into a lesson by making a Darth Vader mask.

Now, I know my Mum will at this point will be muttering something like “Well I still don’t understand what Star Wars has to do with Halloween!” but this annual festivity is about all things spooky and evil and very much includes science-fiction characters these days. The whole idea was not too dis-similar to that of Star Wars Celebration Japan in 2008 which included ‘The Vader Project’ which was where many different people and artists had come up with their own variations of the iconic Vader helmet.

          

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TF Book Review: The Bourne Legacy

Posted on October 21, 2010 by tokyofox

Whilst killing time in the Airport before my August Euro Trip I came across ‘The Bourne Deception‘ in the bookshop which surprised me as I had no idea the Bourne franchise was continuing. On my return I remembered to google it and found out that it wasn’t even the first novel to follow on from Robert Ludlum’s original trilogy which were of course made into three great films.

Eric Van Lustbader is now churning out novels about Jason Bourne although Ludlum’s name very much dominates the covers which I guess is the best way of shipping copies! He has written four books in four years which seems to be a bit excessive to me.

Anyway, I bought ‘The Bourne Legacy‘ on Amazon in September. This is the first one to follow on from the original trilogy and I set about reading it albeit through very sceptical eyes. I say this as I thought the originals were so perfect in going full-circle in terms of Bourne being found in the sea off the coast of Marseilles in ‘The Bourne Identity‘ and ending up in a Manhattan river in ‘The Bourne Ultimatum‘.

I consider my favourite franchises (Star Wars, Terminator, James Bond etc) to be very much of past decades (even though they continue to make new productions in this day and age) but the Bourne one is the most recent addition to that list and with a love for the character I couldn’t help myself from knowing what happened to him next.

The blurb on the back had me tutting straight away when I read that he was supposedly working as a Georgetown professor when he narrowly escapes a bullet from an assassin and two of his closest associates are murdered setting him up as the prime suspect as his legacy follows him. Now, I’m no literary critic, and though I did find it entertaining in parts, I wasn’t overly impressed.

The action scenes were quite good but Lustbader’s portrayal of our hero is clearly different in some ways to the tortured hero we know and love. There was no reference to age or skill limitations and Bourne seems to have turned into a cliche of himself with all these flashbacks and formulaic escapes. Although reading it was good escapism I hope they don’t ruin this franchise in the name of a fast-buck by making it into a film but it seems that that will not be the case.

You can see details of my Bourne travels through Tangiers here

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News Of My Flood Is Finally Leaked!

Posted on October 17, 2010 by tokyofox

I was woken up in the early hours of the 14th September by a dripping sound coming from my kitchen area. Initially I thought I had just left my tap on as anyone else would probably think. However, on closer inspection water was pouring through the roof but it wasn’t due to the heavy rain which had occurred the previous evening as that had stopped.

With very little in the way of buckets or pans in my place I was left to just stare and wonder what to do. I went upstairs to the apartment above where I was shocked to see water absolutely gushing out from under the door. I rang their bell a few times but no answer. I was starting to get a bit more anxious when my neighbours door opened and he could be seen trying to sweep out the water which was really coming through his roof and causing damage among his many items in that entrance foyer part of our apartments. I noticed that he had put down a few bin liner’s down to minimise the damage so I rushed back into my apartment and got some old unused bags from drawer and lay them down across the kitchen area in a way that would best catch and funnel the leaking water into the sink.

Eventually the landlord turned up and was able to turn off the water supply and enter the upstairs apartment which it turns out was vacant. An old pipe had gone rusty and then broke causing the mayhem that had resulted in us three guys having our sleep interrupted. Morning had already broken by the time things had calmed down. My neighbour had to have some new flooring put down, the guy downstairs from him had some damage to his ceiling and I was lucky to escape with nothing more than a couple hours less sleep!

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