Bats A Big Hit

Posted on June 12, 2009 by tokyofox

It might surprise a few of those back home that it is baseball which is the number one sport here in Japan. Now I have never liked the game despite going to a game a few years back. However, I have swung a bat on occasions in the past but it had been three years since I went to a batting centre before today.

Despite all the parents observations and other work projects of late I’m not actually too stressed but if I was, then taking my frustrations out on those balls would surely help relieve that stress. The batting centre a couple of stops from my house has a variety of pitching machines varying in speed between 80km to 130km and needless to say I chose the beginner one but did move up to the next level for my second round. It was only 200 yen (one pound thirty) for 25 balls of which I managed to hit most albeit many slices at first!

If it had been cricket (a game almost unheard of in Japan) I would have been caught at slip many times. It was also quite tiring and my shots definitely had less swing as I got nearer to the last few balls. Such a simple idea and in this hectic city it was good fun to take a short ‘time out’ and whack a few balls.

 
Posted in Action & Adventure, Quirky Japan | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Using Top Trumps Cards In English Lessons

Posted on June 11, 2009 by tokyofox

No this entry isn’t about letting rip in class but using Top Trumps cards as a tool for learning. After making some James Bond actor profile flashcards a few months ago (featuring their age, hair and eye colour and height) for a comparatives and superlatives lesson I got the idea that trump cards might work in lessons.

Subsequently, I went on ebay and bought five sets of cheap ‘Top Trumps’ (three lots of ‘Star Wars‘ and two of ‘The Simpsons‘ if you must know!) which I got sent to Japan. Given that the Simpsons aren’t well-known here I have only used the ‘Star Wars‘ ones. I teach a couple of young private students (separate lessons) who are both young ‘Star Wars‘ fans so I have used the top trumps cards with them as a warm-down fun activity to make sure they leave the room on a high rather than having just been told what their homework is which is not an ideal way to finish a lesson given the negative connotations often associated with the dreaded ‘h’ word.

Top Trump Lessons

Some of the items such as ‘dark side’ and ‘force factor’ have to be ignored but the likes of brains, jedi powers, battle skills and of course height can be used to practice the target language review

i.e. Chewbacca is taller than Darth Vader, Han Solo is more skilful than Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi is more powerful than Princess Leia and so on.

I only wish I could now find a way to incorporate ‘The Simpsons‘ ones into a lesson but maybe some of the items up for comparison are not so suitable. By this I am referring to personal hygiene, shamelessness, huggability and prone to mayhem. Then again, maybe eliciting something like Homer Simpson is more prone to mayhem than Chief Wiggum isn’t so bad after all!

Posted in English Teaching, Films, Star Wars, TV Shows | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Umbrella Day In Japan

Posted on June 10, 2009 by tokyofox

Today marks Umbrella day in Japan which just goes to show that it’s not just England which comes up with ridiculously themed days. This is supposed to mark the start of the rainy season in Japan which lasts for a month or so and is a day befitting of the Japanese who are probably the most umbrella-conscious nation. In fact, its always easy to spot the hordes of Japanese tourists on holiday (if it wasn’t already) as they are the ones with the umbrellas come rain or shine.

I have lost count of the number of times students have gone on about having four seasons which surprised me at first as I always took it for granted that most countries have the same number of seasons. Maybe its not even true as this rainy season could also be added on to that total.

If my menory serves me correctly my first experience of the famous Shibuya crossing was a complete sea of umbrellas as was the overly crowded shopping street Takeshita Dori in Harajuku which was quite a spectacle and very Japanese. It only takes a single spit of rain in the air and umbrellas go up.

Conversely there may not be any rain or even any sun (for Japanese use umbrellas for shade which given the dangers of the suns rays is probably no bad idea) but its not too uncommon to see an umbrella or two. That cloudy weather can be a little dangerous!! I guess the locals are so familiar with holding them that they don’t even realise when they are just not needed.

UK law says that a cyclists hands must both be on the handlebars at all times but no such rules prevail in Japan where cyclists can always be seen playing with their mobiles, smoking or of course holding umbrellas. I hate to think how much plastic is wasted each year making th millions of umbrellas that each person gets through over 12 months. In England I had one umbrella which lasted me over 10 years but I get through at least 10 umbrellas a year. Their ubiquitous nature and cheap cost mean that it really doesn’t matter if one leaves it at work or on the train.

Posted in Japan Life, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Green Tea Flavoured Coca Cola

Posted on June 9, 2009 by tokyofox

Coca-Cola is undoubtedly the most famous and popular soft drink in the world and though its everywhere in Japan it’s not the number one drink here. That honour goes to green tea which is such a major part of its culture. The Coca-Cola Company even produce cold green tea bottles here in order to make up for not having their cola products at the top of the pile.

However, there is now green tea flavoured ‘Coca-Cola Plus’ containing catechins (tea antioxidants) which I tried out yesterday and I can’t say I even noticed the flavouring in it which is supposed to leave an aftertaste. The drink is reportedly being targeted at women in their 20’s and 30’s who are ‘concerned about health and beauty’ which is no doubt a load of marketing b*lllocks but I guess releasing all these weird flavours (nothing compared to rivals Pepsi who have another strange Japan-only flavour about to be released soon) means that the brand name is constantly in the picture amid competition in an industry where healthier drinks are becoming more popular.

Posted in Food & Drink, Quirky Japan | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Dining Out: My Return To Yoshinoya For Their New M-eel

Posted on June 9, 2009 by tokyofox

One of the first restaurants I made repeat visits to when I initially came to Japan was Yoshinoya 吉野家 which is a Japanese style fast food restaurant specialising in gyu-don (literally meaning ‘beef bowl’). Early in 2004 Japan stopped importing beef from America due to mad cow disease and with the introduction of buta-don (pork bowl) I switched allegiance to their rival Matsuya as it was just a bit cheaper and also had the addition of miso soup. Some people turn their noses up at such food but it does the job when you’re in a rush (or running short on funds) and surely has to be a bit more healthy than McDonalds.

In a separate food story my favourite sushi dish has always been unagi うなぎ(freshwater eel) so I was intrigued to try unadon 鰻丼 which Yoshinoya has recently released and is basically a freshwater eel dumped on top of a bowl of rice and rather nice it is too but like so many things in this country I guess it’ll disappear from the menu soon given the constant comings and goings of Japanese products.

My Return To Yoshinoya For Their New M-eel My Return To Yoshinoya For Their New M-eel

Posted in Food & Drink | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Japan Has A New World Record Holder

Posted on May 27, 2009 by tokyofox

Warning: Those of a sensitive nature may not wish to read on!

Last week a Japanese man become the new world record holder in this activity. I’m sure he faced some pretty stiff opposition along the way and hopefully his competitors aren’t at home licking their wounds. The Japanese man concerned must be standing proud after achieving the record thereby coming first in that activity. Now its all over I guess he can raise a smile if nothing else! Who knows, maybe Japan will erect a statue in his honour!

The question everyone is asking now is whether he’ll be able to pull it off again next year. It might be a little hard to do it again but if he concentrates on the matter in hand then I am sure he will rise to the occasion and beat off the competition single handedly! From reading this article it really is quite astounding to see how serious the guy takes such a thing and who knew a world record for such a thing even existed!

Posted in Hentai | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Tokyo Dream Party Cosplay Convention

Posted on May 20, 2009 by tokyofox

Back in Golden Week myself and Gideon went to Odaiba to see the Dream Party which was a very nerdy event jam-packed with men queueing up round the block just to buy some geeky merchandise from a stall. This part was fairly dull and meant nothing to us apart from getting a few photos of the girls on hand to promote an array of their companies anime, comics, figurines and characters.

 

There was also some thing taking place on stage but listening to the ever-so girlie squeaky voices for more than a few minutes is more than most westerners can tolerate. Quite why so many Japanese girls speak in such voices is beyond me but then again I’m not Japanese am I so I can probably never understand the appeal.

Thankfully the day was saved by the cosplay event which on the whole took place outside until the rain changed from the tolerable drizzle to something a bit more heavy.

 

Japanese girls just love to get dressed up as opposed to Western women who usually need a bit more of an excuse (in my not-so-knowledgable opinion!) to get dolled up. This is of course very pleasing on the eye for most men and you have to admire their efforts in more ways than one but on the other hand they do sometimes dress completely over the top such as wearing heels to go to the beach.

 

That is taken to the extreme by these cosplay (the Japanese word for costume roleplay which is very Japanese concept) events where girls (and a handful of men too) dress up in costumes based on manga characters. This event was going on outside the Tokyo Big Sight and to be honest its difficult to know what to make of such a phenomenon. I have no doubt that those in the Western world think that men (up to the age of about 60) taking photos of naive young girls is just not right and I agree with that thinking myself to an extent especially when they are asking the girls to get into some sexually suggestive positions.

However, this is Japan where many many things are done differently and their thinking for all I know may just be that they (both cosplayer and photographer) think its cute and will maybe catapult the cosplayer to becoming a model. Anyway, I don’t want to get too heavy on what is a fun, colourful event with costumes galore (of which I knew absolutely none!) which one has to admire for the effort put into them.

            
Posted in Hentai, Japan Life, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Terminator Exhibition In Tokyo

Posted on May 7, 2009 by tokyofox

As a fan of the whole Terminator franchise I just had to go to Odaiba and see the “Terminator Exhibition: Battle or Coexistence? Robots and Our Future” which is not exactly the most snappy of titles is it?! Most museums may be free back in the UK but not here in Tokyo where myself and Ethan had to cough up 1200 yen each to enter the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

Japan is of course famed for its development of pet and cleaning robots and this exhibition was based on the possibility of robots and humans co-existing (whether killing or protecting!) as portrayed by the Terminator series. Having read this blurb I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of Terminator-related things and I was half right but there was actually more than I imagined. Of course the whole thing was basically just a big promotion for next month’s new film and there was a mini-cinema zone playing the trailers.

One other zone featured the costumes and robots from the next film including the more black degraded robots (rather than shiny and silver) and the Mototerminator which as the name suggests is a cross between a motorbike and a terminator. The main zone featured exhibits, costumes, artwork and photos from all the movies as well as a model of Cameron (played by the gorgeous Summer Glau) who plays the terminator protecting John Connor in ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ TV series.

TerminatorExhibitionMay09 022  TerminatorExhibitionMay09 025

I was told off three times for use of flash photography but given that they don’t eject you for such a thing I just had to make sure that it was a different staff member who spoke to me each time and as always in this country there were loads of workers present.

09-05-01_005  09-05-01_007  TerminatorExhibitionMay09 014 

Luckily we could sell our tickets outside to a mate and his friend at half price which made the exhibition more satisfying. It also did its job of whetting our appetite for the forthcoming ‘Terminator Salvation‘ (known as ‘Terminator 4‘ in Japan) film which is released in Japan on June 13th.

TerminatorExhibitionMay09 034  TerminatorExhibitionMay09 031  TerminatorExhibitionMay09 037

You can read my review of ‘Terminator Salvation‘ here 

Click here to see Terminator Filming Locations in California

Posted in Films, Japan Life | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Golden Week 2009

Posted on May 2, 2009 by tokyofox

Golden Week 2006 – Okinawa

Golden Week 2007 – Philippines

Golden Week 2008 – Thailand

Golden Week 2009 – Tokyo!

Not such an exotic destination for this years holiday due to finances and other commitments. The first of my eight days off began on Wednesday when I met ex-Nova workmate Peter in Kagurazaka which is supposedly famous for its French restaurants (as well as Italian, Spanish and of course Japanese) amid its sloping main street.

The area used to be renowned for its geisha houses but no real sign of such thing today as we walked around the backstreets. I was first told about this place a couple of years back as being a nice elegant place in Tokyo away from the main tourist traps, and having kept a magazine article on the place I have to say that the place was quite disappointing for me not that I had any real high expectations. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and we ventured on to the very-crowded Yoyogi Park in Harajuku for a couple of beer cans followed by a load more beer later in an izakaya.

Posted in Japan Life | 1 Comment

Rain Fall

Posted on April 28, 2009 by tokyofox

To be frank I have very little interest in Japanese films. I’ve seen a few notable ones and they’re OK but most just don’t quite cut the mustard with me. However, there is one exception and that is ‘Rain Fall‘ which is based on Barry Eisler’s series of books which I have very much enjoyed reading.

They revolve around one principle character; John Rain, a Japanese-American cynical, conscientious assassin with a liking for whisky and jazz music. The first two books (there are six in total) are set in Tokyo which was obviously appealing to me and though not as likeable or exciting as the Bourne series they were thrillers which kept me hooked and wanting more including a film adaptation.

That has now happened and features Gary Oldman but sadly for me the film is predominantly in Japanese and so there is no need to provide English subtitles. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if it gets released overseas at a later date. I now know how those Japanese people with a strong interest in Hollywood films and American TV shows feel when they can’t watch them until they finally get subtitled!

 
Posted in Books, Films | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments