A Banana Vending Machine In Tokyo! You Better Believe It!

Posted on August 6, 2010 by tokyofox

There’s no doubt that Japan is the land of vending machines. Among a population of 120 million it is said that there is one vending machine for every 20 or so people which equals erm……a lot of machines!

The majority of them sell drinks and cigarettes but other things are available such as newspapers, flowers, porn, fried food, condoms, ice-cream, toilet paper, disposable camera’s, kids toys, beer, rice, eggs (yes, really!) and perhaps the most famous story overseas is of used schoolgirl undies being sold in these vending machines but I think that may just be urban myth. I am certainly aware that new underwear can be purchased from these ‘jihanki‘ (vending machines) as I have seen that.

Now, the ‘Dole’ banana company have started selling their products in a vending machine which I came across in one of the far-flung parts of the huge Shibuya station. Wondering what might happen to them when they fell I put my hand in to see that their was a foam landing mat to stop them becoming instantly bruised. Individual ones can be bought for 130 yen (about a pound) or you can get a bunch for 390 yen.

While on the subject of banana’s, today is unofficially banana day in Japan as ba(8) plus nana (7) are the month and day respectively.

  
Posted in Food & Drink, Japan Life, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Malaysia 2010: Penang Pt II – Temples

Posted on August 2, 2010 by tokyofox

After taking in Khoo Kongsi temple (see Penang Pt II for details) I returned to the hotel to get my girlfriend and we headed out to the bus station again. Thankfully no sandals were snapped this time! Again we stopped for a feast of chinese food for brunch at some local place and after that we had intended to go by local bus to Penang Hill (at 830m above sea level) for its panoramic views but the driver said it was all closed which wasn’t so out of the blue as we had heard a similar story the day before.

As a result we headed down to the southern part of the island to visit Snake Temple which for some reason had to be done in two parts with the gap between the buses being quite long. Luckily a kind local informed us of what was happening and which bus to transfer to.

The main reason for wanting to go to that effort for a temple was the chance to get our picture taken with a snake. I have touched and held a snake or two before but never got the touristy photo. We were both really happy with our photo’s which came as part of the same deal (two photos for 30MYR).

I have since been asked by many students what it felt like (cold, hot, slimy etc) but the truth is that I can’t remember so well as within seconds of agreeing to the photo they put three snakes around me, told me to smile to the camera and then that was it. No time to really experience the moment in terms of stroking or touching them but basically they felt no different, better or worse, than any other animal. I think the snakes were slightly out of it thanks to the strong incense smoke lingering around the place.

   

We returned to George Town by bus and almost instantly took another bus to Kek Lok Si Temple which is the island’s most prominent and famous temple. Despite that accolade I didn’t really have any desire to see it as a temple is a temple in my book. However, my girlfriend had read about this place while I was out on my ‘Anna & the King‘ filming locations scouting mission that morning. Ultimately it was a good idea of hers as its hilltop setting was really picturesque. It was a long climb up to the entrance but went almost un-noticed as we had to walk up narrow steps through a load of souvenir stalls.

The first stop was a slightly cramped pond jam-packed with turtles and the rest of the impressive complex soon followed which included a seven tier 30metre tower and a cable-car ride up to the huge bronze statue amid an area of more temples, a fish pool and animal statues of the Chinese zodiac.

       

We only just caught the last cable-car of the day going up which meant we had to take the long walk down where it started to drizzle a bit. I rewarded myself with a huge ais kacang which is basically a dessert of ice shavings topped with syrups, coconut milk, red beans, seeds and jelly.

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Anna & The King Filming Locations In Penang

Posted on July 30, 2010 by tokyofox

My girlfriend wasn’t really interested in looking around George Town, particularly on foot, so with that in mind I left her in bed for an hour or so each morning while I went out to explore. I wanted to see the area as its normal to get to know your surroundings and for two other reasons; one was that it’s a British colonial town and the second was that parts of it were used to portray “Bangkok” in the 1999 film ‘Anna And The King‘ starring Jodie Foster.

 

There was a bit of light rain in the air on my first morning outing but that soon cleared up as I briefly walked around by Fort Cornwalis and then on to Penang Town Hall (above) where its Grand Ballroom played the part of the ‘Royal Court Room’ in the aforementioned movie which to be honest I only watched once I discovered some of it had been filmed in Penang. For the record, I’d never heard of the film until well after the trip had been booked and even though it was way more interesting than I thought it would be I won’t be rushing to see it again as its not exactly my type of movie!

The following morning I gave myself a bit more time and headed to Swettenham Pier (below) in Penang Harbour which portrayed “Bangkok Harbour”. There was absolutely no-one else around when I was there and I only saw a few people as I moved back in the direction of the hotel via Armenian Street. This played home to the “Bangkok” street scenes and its Armenian merchant houses (below) supposedly needed very little set dressing to make them more 19th century-like.

 

On that very same street (at #128 to be precise) was Syed Alatas Mansion (below), an 1860’s house of an Arab trader from Sumatra, where Anna and Prince Chulalongkorn find ‘Lady Tuptim’ in chains and as a slave. The temple where she was actually captured by palace guards (having ran away, disguising herself as a young man and joined the monastery where her former fiancé lived) was the UNESCO world heritage site Khoo Kongsi.

 

As far as temples go this was quite interesting as its a clan house (part temple part meeting hall) in the middle of a neighbourhood of houses and for that reason was difficult to find. Khoo Kongsi (above) is an elaborate mix of dragons, lanterns, carvings, paintings and ceramic tiles and that was my final port of call before I went back to find sleeping beauty still asleep in our room.

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Malaysia 2010: Penang Pt I – Parasailing and Dr Fish!

Posted on July 28, 2010 by tokyofox

With a forecast of heavy rain every day in Penang we were very lucky to experience only brief moments of drizzle but on the whole it was mostly hot weather. Inevitably that resulted in me getting sunburned (feet and head) though! No slumming it for me this holiday in terms of accommodation as I was with my girlfriend. We stayed at the Bayview Hotel which was more expensive than my usual pit but still very reasonably priced for what we got. I didn’t splash out on a taxi from the airport though instead choosing to take the local bus followed by a 15 minute walk to the hotel. We were a bit shocked on our check-in to have to pay an extra 100 MYR each as deposit which was annoying as getting that money back on our check-out would mean we had a surplus amount of cash that would just have to be spent at the airport.

  

We went out straight away for a well-earned beer and got down to the business of trying out the local dishes (hokkien mee and duck) at a nearby outdoor food court. More local cuisine was sampled the next morning at the most local of places as we made our way to the main bus terminal Komtar. We managed to feast on a load of Chinese dishes and a couple of drinks for just two or three pounds but after that fuel stop my girlfriend managed to catch one of her sandals on the road making it impossible to walk in them so we had to stop at the shopping mall at Komtar to buy a new pair. Not just one pair for her as she bought two! Safety in numbers I guess!

We took a local bus to the north of the island which is home to its most famous beach; Batu Ferringhi. After a quick drink (mint lemon tea for me) and some local nosh (laksa which is basically noodles in a spicy coconut-based soup) we tried our hand at two activities albeit not together!

She went horse-riding along the beach and then I went parasailing for the first time. In the UK or Japan you’d probably have an overly long safety demonstration course but no such nonsense in Malaysia. Pay your money, sign a form, put on the harness, get a ten second instruction of what to do (something about changing hand position and pulling something or another on the descent) and then away you go! I didn’t really know how to get up in the air smoothly. Run until you feel the boat really pulling you and then hope you take off!

As it was I went up a bit and seconds later hit the water before instantly shooting up in to the sky which was really cool although the brief dip in the ocean meant my eyes were full of salty water which impaired my vision slightly. The whole thing only lasted two or three minutes (just once round the bay basically) but to be fair it was enough and for under 15 quid it was well worth it for me.

  

Over the road from the beach was Dr Fish where we paid 50MYR (10 pounds) between us to dip our feet in this small bath full of fish who nibble away at your feet and supposedly cure it of all dead skin or whatever. It was actually very relaxing and rejuvenating and, after time at the beach, it felt very nice.

  

On the outward journey I had noticed a roadside restaurant called ‘The Place 007’ featuring the proper James Bond logo. I knew it would be almost impossible to go there but, having had the Bond theme in my head all day, I wanted to get a picture of it on the way home and knew taking it through the bus window would be my only chance. I just about managed it!

Posted in Asia Travel, Films, James Bond | Tagged , | 2 Comments

TF Film Review: The A-Team (2010)

Posted on July 18, 2010 by tokyofox

So having worked my way through the A-Team TV series DVD boxsets in the first half of this year I had become overly familiar with the original characters. With that in mind my expectations for the movie were quite low! They probably didn’t need to be to be fair as Hannibal was played by the excellent (and suitably greyed-up) Liam Neeson who has a proven acting pedigree and he didn’t really diappoint although he wasn’t quite as smug as George Peppard in the TV series.

In fact Bradeley Coopers Face-man was more smug which I didn’t really take to. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson did a better job than I expected as BA Baracus but lacked some of the charisma of Mr T in the TV series and to be fair that was always going to be the most difficult character to replicate. I didn’t really take to Sharlto Copley’s portrayal of Murdock too much.

Mr T. may have been the star of the A-Team but in my mind it was Dwight Schultz as Murdock who was the real star delivering some great comedic performances. He was the one that most of my friends and I always wanted to be in the playground recreations in the 1980’s after the previous weekends Saturday evening viewing of the show.

Some critics have attacked the plot of the film but what were they expecting?! The A-Team is all about action and this film certainly delivers on that front with the best seeing the team parachuted out of an aeroplane in a tank but anyone who saw the trailer knew this was coming which is kind of a shame as it ruins it a bit but I guess they have to include the best bits in these trailers to entice viewers.

I liked how the film told the back-story of how they got together and were convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. The use of protagonist names like Lynch and Morrisson are for the fans and the jail breaks are pretty inventive with the best one revolving around some 3D action.

I would have liked to see someone hire the A-Team as they used to in the TV series and though the film certainly won’t set the world alight it overall did the job that it’s supposed to do which is deliver high-speed thrilling action without much regard for minor things like plot and storyline! Room has certainly been left for a sequel.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

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The A-Team – TV Series

Posted on July 14, 2010 by tokyofox

This American action/adventure TV series was probably my favourite as a child and 24 years after it was axed I have to say that I still love it. While a lot of TV shows from one’s childhood are often not as good as you remember I’m happy to say that that is not true (in my opinion) for this programme. This was essential teatime viewing in the 1980’s and was known for it’s simple stories with the bad guys being easy to spot as our four Robin Hood-type heroes beat them using a range of weaponry and explosives that never killed anyone or even did them too much injury. The plots were written to be easily understandable to the typical child-like brain which is probably why it still appeals!

With knowledge that an A-Team movie was on the way I bought (or got bought) the complete five season A-Team box sets when I was back in England last Christmas and spent the first half of this year working my way through all 98 episodes.

 

Of course one of the best things about the A-Team was the theme tune including the military style narrative introduction which I never grow tired of hearing. The iconic black van played a huge role in the status of the series and is still something I’d love to see with my own eyes. I had hoped to see it when I went to Universal Studio’s in Hollywood in 2002 as I’d heard it was rusting away on the backlot but sadly it was nowhere to be seen. The ‘Cars of the Stars’ Museum in Keswick in the north of England may be the solution as I think that is home to one of the GMC van’s used throughout the five seasons.

Needless to say that the main reason for its success were the four main characters; Colonel John Hannibal Smith, Lieutenant Templeton Face-man Peck, Captain Howling Mad Murdock and Sergeant BA Baracus played by the main star of the show Mr T. The fact that he was the star supposedly upset George Peppard who was the real proper Hollywood actor which lead to a lot of tension on the set as was explored in detail in the Channel 4 show ‘Bring Back The A-Team‘ show a few years ago.

 

Here are some of the formulaic parts of an episode:

* Cars flying through the air and turning upside down having collided with some obstacle such as a car.

* B.A. Baracus throwing somone over his head.

* One of the A-Team diving on top of somone from above.

* Weaponry and vehicles being formed out of some leftover cr*p in a warehouse which they got locked in.

* The team escaping in a car and driving through a gate or barrier as a couple of guys dived out of the way.

* No-one ever really getting hurt. After a huge car-crash the cameras would always later cut-back to the enemy dusting themselves down or coming out of the wreckage unhurt.

* One of the team hurling a grenade in the direction of the enemy who then dived for survival.

* Being caught by Colonel Lynch, Colonel Decker or General Fullbright many times but always escaping.

* Murdock having to escape from his mental ward in may episodes.

* The catchphrases: “I love it when a plan come’s together”, “Hannibal’s on the jazz”, “I pity the fool” and “I ain’t getting on no plane!”.

* B.A. being drugged to get him on a plane.

* Murdock & B.A. nearly coming to blows in most episodes.

* Face scamming a vehicle or other object with relative ease.

* Hannibal seemingly chain-smoking his cigar’s.

* Hannibal saying “You’ve just hired the A-Team” whilst usually in disguise having lead the potential client through a series of tests to see if they were legitimate.

The series ran for five seasons with the first four being pretty much of the same formula. Having just watched all of them this year I can see why the ratings did fall as the fourth season kicked in. The already-simple plots became ever more lame or increasingly stupid with ridiculous guest appearances from the likes of Boy George and Hulk Hogan. However, the season four finale did include a death and was notable for some truly serious dramatic moments with the A-Team members privately reminiscing on their Vietnam war experiences

The final season’s changes in style were not popular with a fifth member of the team added and having been captured they were now working for a guy in a style similar to the Mission Impossible TV series. The show was axed mid-way through this season and brought the curtain down on one of the most man-driven shows and its taken a while but only now has an A-Team movie been made but will it be any good?

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Tokyo Fox’s World Cup 2010 Overview

Posted on July 12, 2010 by tokyofox

So after four weeks the final whistle has blown on the World Cup and now my life can hopefully return to as normal as possible meaning no more split sleeping shifts, sleep deprivation or catching 40 winks in between lessons.

On reflection, England were woeful and the worlds biggest under-achievers failed to deliver anything beyond the minimum. The displays of the overpaid prima-donnas that make up the England team has to be questioned. Definitely a case of reverse symmetry in that the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts.

That was the intro to the Tokyo Fox World Cup overview four years ago and it’s scary how little has changed for us English since then. In fact, I would clearly say that, despite an almost perfect qualifying campaign, this tournament was the worst in my living memory and the team just never got going. Not one player has come out of the World Cup with his head held high. The same could be said for many of the so-called star players who didn’t perform to the level most of us had hoped. While England were woeful there was some small consolation in that things were even more shambolic for the French and the defending champions Italy didn’t fare much better.

The only team to not actually lose a single game were New Zealand who did their nation proud with three battling draws. Japan did likewise with a couple of unexpected wins and a penalty shoot out defeat which saw them go out with their dignity in tact. I still feel that they could have gone for it more in their second round game with Paraguay as the match was there for the taking.

As for the African nations, they were largely disappointing with only Ghana going beyond the group stage and they were cheated out of a semi-final spot by Uruguay who had a great tournament and in Diego Forlan they had the player of the championships. After his Europa Cup exploits a few months ago its not been a bad year for the Manchester United reject!

Hosts South Africa seemingly did a great job hosting the event but were always unlikely to have much impact football-wise but at least they went out in a blaze of glory beating the French in that final group game. The much talked about vuvuzela’s were annoying me before a ball had even been kicked but I never believed that they should have been banned as was being talked about at one time. I guess there wasn’t much else to talk about after a very dull opening round of group games.

Overall, I have to say (as I did four years ago) that the Germans were the most entertaining team to watch. I know most people say that the Spanish were the kings of entertainment but I find their constant passing build-up play tedious at times. Having said that, I was glad to see them beat the Germans who in turn had thrashed the Argies before that. For me the Argentina coach Maradona was nothing more than a glorified cheerleader!

Before the final I wanted to see the Dutch win but in the end justice was done with Spain winning 1-0 for the fourth consecutive game. This showpiece game was a huge disappointment with some of the most negative tactics ever from Holland who just wanted to stop Spain playing. With foul after foul, the game never really got going as was shown by the ridiculous high number of yellow cards shown (all justified if you ask me) by the English referee Howard Webb. I was thankful that it didn’t go down to the lottery of penalty kick’s to decide the winner of the 2010 World Cup Final. Spain were worthy winners and having been perrennial under-achievers for so long they have overcome that voodoo with victory in both the European Championship and World Cup Final’s. England badly need to immitate the Spanish but I won’t hold my breath on that one!

* There were 64 games played since June 11th and I tweeted my daily predictions through twitter and facebook. It’s fair to say that I didn’t do as well as that blo*dy octopus as I only got a measly one score correct. What a loser!

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Back To The Future 25th Anniversary

Posted on July 4, 2010 by tokyofox

Many people assume that Star Wars is my favourite film but that’s probably just because of the EU (expanded universe) and its endless amount of products. ‘Back To The Future‘ (1985) is actually my number one film of all time and late last year I bought a collection of props from the trilogy which I picked up when I went back home for Christmas. The set features:

  • Full 3 page Delorean Repair Instructions
  • Doc’s Flux Capacitor Diagram
  • ‘Enchantment Under The Sea’ Photo
  • Marty’s Letter To Doc
  • ‘OH LA LA’ front and back covers
  • ‘Tales From Space’ magazine covers
  • ‘A Match Made In Space’ Book Cover
  • Aged letter from Marty to Doc
  • Save The Clock Tower (1 white, 1 yellow and 1 blue)
  • Sports Almanac Book Cover
  • Cusco ‘You’re Fired’ Fax at the 3 stages
  • Pepsi Logo’s
  • ‘No Hoverboarding’ Sign
  • Cafe 80’s Menu
  • Delorean Map
  • Library Card
  • Social Security Card
  • Cinema ticket for “The Goonies”
  • Concert ticket 
  • Biff Tannen Museum ticket
  • Student card
  •  ‘Free Pepsi’ coupon
  • Driver’s License
  • Tardly Slip
  • ‘Battle of the Bands’ Flyer
  •  Doc’s card
  • Photo of Marty and Jennifer
  • Family Photo

Back To The Future 25th Anniversary  

Anyway, this month marks the 25th Anniversary of ‘Back To The Future‘ which I love due in part to the skateboarding scenes (which I really loved as a teenager), the soundtrack, the plot and the chemistry between Michael J Fox (Marty McFly) and Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown). It was such a great thrill to see the Delorean, Biff’s car and the famous clock tower when I went to the Universal Studio’s in California in 2002. It was, and still is, a fantastic 1980’s flick combining sci-fi, action, comedy and romance and even now when I watch it, I still notice new things which are so important to the plot in this film or either of its sequels.

 

Posted in Films, Movie Locations | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Hugo In Tokyo Pt III – Tourist Central

Posted on July 4, 2010 by tokyofox

Hugo’s first few days were spent very much in Tokyo’s urban centre taking in the typical guidebook sites. I took him to the likes of Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya on day one with the former including the Metroplitan government building which showed him what he had let himself in for in terms of concrete as far as the eye can see. As it was a Sunday Harajuku and Yoyogi Park were obvious choices but surprisingly there were very few cosplayers hanging out outside Harajuku station. No idea what’s happened to them but its seemingly been aan activity in decline for a while now. The ‘Elvis’ rock ‘n’ roll dancers were thankfully still in Yoyogi Park strutting their stuff in the heat as were a new collective of line dancers.

 

The following day we went to see the Imperial Palace but couldn’t go inside the East gardens as they are closed on Mondays which was something I hadn’t thought about but no real loss as I don’t recall it being that great inside. Luckily for us, it was another beautiful day (in the rainy season) so we walked onto Hibiya and Ginza where we went in the Sony Centre building which was a place I hadn’t been to since my first few weeks in Japan all those years ago. A great place for that hands-on experience of the latest electronic marvels.

Hugo kept on saying he loved water so as it was nice we took the monorail over rainbow bridge to the man-made island of Odaiba and from there we later took a boat cruise up the Sumida-gawa river to Asakusa senso-ji temple which is perhaps the most touristy place in Tokyo and as it was already 6pm when we arrived most of the stalls were already closed meaning fewer crowds.

 

Again, Hugo was struggling with the long days and the extreme and intense humidity of a Japanese summer so the following day would be an easier day. That day included the beautiful Rikugien gardens near Komagome which are seemingly natural in appearance but are actually artificial. Can’t say I am bothered at all about that.

 

Ueno Park was on the itinerary next and we casually walked around the huge area taking in a temple and Shinobazu pond. Of course there were more activities but that’s all I am going to say about Hugo’s trip (I think three parts is enough!) other than that, despite my negative tone at times in these entries, it was nice to have a friend visit a place which is similar yet so different from that in Western society.

Posted in Japan Life, Japan Travel | 1 Comment

Hugo In Tokyo Pt II – Hiking

Posted on July 2, 2010 by tokyofox

Without a guidebook and pretty much no knowledge of what was in Tokyo, Hugo came with very few ideas other than going to a zoo, a beach and a water-park! Of course these things are all probably a bit different here but they don’t exactly give a real impression of the capital city do they?

However, one thing he did want to do was climb Mount Fuji. Sadly he was around just before the official climbing season (July and August) but I said before his arrival that, depending on the weather, we might still climb it and from the very bottom too rather than the 5th station which almost everyone (including myself in 2007) starts from. I soon realised it wouldn’t be possible due to a mxiture of laziness, slight injuries (Hugo’s back and my calf), weather (rainy season and wind chill factor) and Hugo basically struggling with the long days and climate of this country.

On Friday 25th June I got up early to see Japan’s surprising win over Denmark and once the match was over we went to Shinjuku to take an early bus to Kawaguchiko Lake which is in the foreground of Mount Fuji. Once we had boarded the bus I told Hugo to keep his ticket but he ignored me and ripped it up which caused great embarassment for me on our arrival as the driver asked for the tickets and made us piece together his ticket (all parts) while shouting at him. Of course he was stupid but the driver was a bit over-the-top given that we had shown the tickets to get on the bus but this is Japan where rules are rules.

We took the ropeway up to Mount Kachi-Kachi which supposedly offers the best views of Fuji. The view of the symbolic mountain was OK when viewed the old-fashioned way (through one’s eyes!) though a bit cloudy whereas the view through a lens was not so great. We walked around about half of the lake amid glorious sunshine and ended up at a batting centre which was something I had wanted to show Hugo though I never expected it at this scenic location.

After that we walked about a bit more where I had to endure a very stubborn guy from Sweden thinking he coud climb the mountain there and then despite being more suitably dressed to go a club! Despite having on only a shirt and trainers he seemd to think he could walk to the 5th station five hours away and then climb Fuji-san with no torch, oxygen supllies or Japanese ability! The guy hadn’t done any research about climbing it but seemed to think that he knew better than anyone else. The Japanese all stick to the rules and while I believe that you can probably climb it fairly easily you still need to be more prepared than Hugo was. Luckily, the woman at the tourist information managed to get through to him more than I could.

     

Two days prior to that we had gone up Mount Takao which is a short mountain right on the western edge of Tokyo prefecture. Only 599m tall and most of that is ascended via chairlift. We hadn’t planned to go to Takao on that day but when we got to our intended destination of Tama Zoo we found it closed which was annoying as their website said nothing about such a thing. While we were quite near(ish) Takao I made a quick decision to do a late afternoon summit of a mountain which I must have been up about half a dozen times now.

 

On the day in-between these two mountains we went to Kamakura which involved a fair bit of hiking between Jochi-ji temple and the giant Daibutsu. Even though it was very hot the previous days rain meant the hiking course was very muddy in places and slippy in my trainers which I hadn’t expected. It took quite a while to complete the course through the woods before we reached the Great Buddha and the dump of a beach that is Yuigahama. Hugo was impressed though!

 
Posted in Japan Life, Japan Travel | 6 Comments