Bored Of Snowboarding In Hakuba?

Posted on March 2, 2009 by tokyofox

Having had flu for over a week before my trip I was very apprehensive about myself and Ethan’s yearly trip to Hakuba and it’s fair to say that it wasn’t the most succesful trip but not due to any argument between us. We got on fine as always but I somehow lost my ski-lift pass after the first day and had to fork out 5000 yen for a new one day pass which I wasn’t happy about as we were trying to cut costs this year by staying at a cheaper hotel down the road from the resort rather than staying on site like we did last year and the year before.

On top of that weather conditions were fairly sh*te on the Friday after a very promising start. It was great for the first hour between eight and nine with nice powdery snow but went downhill after that. It then became very rainy, cold and windy resulting in the main gondola being closed which meant the courses we could use were very limited which resulted in us calling it a day slightly earlier than usual at 3pm.

Back at the hotel the two of us then shared a hot bath which is such a Japanese tradition and not a homosexual free-for-all. These baths may be immensely popular with the locals but we lasted only a few minutes before giving up.

After a short nap (much needed after very little sleep on the overnight bus journey) we decided to forego dinner (probably a good idea given the tiny meal we were served up for breakfast the following morning) and went into town as Ethan was desparate to return to the Mexican restaurant we visited last year but certainly not to try the aptly named ‘death’ sauce again! After a not-so-amazing meal we then had to run through the sludgy streets to catch the last bus back to our hotel as one bus didn’t stop for us outside the restaurant as we had expected it would.

 

The Saturday morning was also frustrating as the gondola didn’t open for a while and when it did it always had long queues. Also, the second mountain link was closed until the early afternoon for no justifiable reasons it seemed as the weather conditions were very good. To be honest, the trip was not such a disaster but we might have to think again when it comes to choosing our next snowboarding destination.

 
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Finally Got My Hands On The F-Cup Cookie

Posted on February 18, 2009 by tokyofox

Given that I don’t take much notice of the local media my news about Japan still comes from external sources and quite often the things that I hear about Tokyo are completely new to me. The international media tends to only focus on the weird and (not-so) wonderful things to come out of Japan which usually revolves around very silly Japanese TV game shows (which I never see) or fairly useless innovations.

One such example was ‘F-Cup Cookie’ (read by some as f*ck up cookie, I kid you not!) which were heavily talked about on Scott Mills’ excellent BBC Radio One show back in December 2007. These are special cookies which are supposed to enhance womens breasts which, given the fact that the Japanese (if I can generalise for a moment!) are not so well endowed in that department, you would have thought would maybe be popular among the millions of overly-fashion conscious Tokyo girls.

Typically, I never saw such products on sale anywhere until finally I came across them the other day in one of the chain drug stores. About 750 yen for a box of 14 and by taking two a day a girls bust size supposedly increases which is exactly what Scott Mills put to the test which can be seen here in this video.

Being the romantic that I am I gave them to my girlfriend for her birthday the other week. In my defence, I should say that she did know about them beforehand and knew that it was a joke and that I was not implying anything by giving them to her. Furthermore, I would also like to add that I bought her a silver necklace, flowers, card and a t-shirt and made her a photo frame. I also took her out on both the Saturday and Sunday night so hopefully she will remember all that rather than the aforementioned cookie.

   
Posted in Food & Drink, Hentai, Japan Life | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Not The Best Way To Get A-Head In Life!

Posted on February 10, 2009 by tokyofox

A couple of years ago I was featured on Keikotomanabu website and just this last month I have appeared in the magazine made by the same company which one of my students works for. However, you may have to look closely at the photo below to see yours truly as it is only the back of my head which is shown. Some would say that that is my best side!!

The fact is that the article is all about one of my schools students (not mine though) and I was chosen due to me being the only one in the school at that time back in November. My out-of-focus head was just used for some arty-farty photograph technique and not surprisingly most of my students failed to notice it when I showed them the magzine!

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TF Film Review: Quantum Of Solace (2008)

Posted on February 6, 2009 by tokyofox

Here it is then – a review of a film which came out in November last year apart from the fact that it has only just been released here in Japan. These delayed releases really are annoying as you can basically get the movie on download before it comes out here. I know that promotion and subtitling can take time but if some films have a worldwide release date then surely so can most others, especially ‘Quantum of Solace‘ which is even distributed by Sony who are of course a Japanese company.

 

I was very late to get into the Bond franchise with ‘Tomorrow Never Dies‘ (1997) being the first one I saw in its entirety and from then I on I was hooked and over the years I have made the effort to see many of the others, both new and old. I even went to James Bond Island near Phuket (featured in 1974’s ‘The Man With The Golden Gun‘) which was a highlight at the time for me and Ethan.

Having bought my ticket in advance (its 500 yen cheaper and also included a free bottle of Coca Cola Zero zero 7) I got up early last week for the 10am showing before work. I’d been doing my best to avoid any article or TV report about the film but couldn’t help but hear that it was now more similar to the excellent Bourne films and that was constantly in my mind as I watched some of the opening scenes which were reminiscent of ‘The Bourne Ultimatum‘ (2007) in my opinion but I guess that film franchise also borrowed heavily from Bond.

Overall, I enjoyed the action parts of the film, the Latin-American scenery and just looking at Olga Kurylenko who is one of the best looking Bond girls in my opinion. I can’t really explain it plot-wise (luckily so for those who haven’t seen it yet!) but that’s never been such an important thing for me. Of course its difficult to re-boot a franchise so soon after it was initially done and so it was always going to struggle to match the exploits of  ‘Casino Royale’ (2006) but I thought it was still quite good and continued the story of its predecessor which is rare in 007 films. As much as I like Daniel Craig’s portrayal of Bond I do miss the little things which made 007 iconic such as the gadgets, quips and memorable lines.

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

You can see my ‘Casino Royale’ filming locations here and here.

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Euro Trip 2008/09 Pt VI – Krakow (Poland)

Posted on January 31, 2009 by tokyofox

The overnight journey from Bratislava to Krakow was my first time to experience a sleeper train where I was on the top of three beds in our shared cabin. With no idea what was outside it really felt like a roller-coaster at times (in terms of that feeling you get in your stomach) as the train bumped about while speeding along.

There were also lengthy stops at other stations where I was often wondering if it was our destination. Thankfully the conductor woke us up 30 minutes before our arrival in what was a very cold and snowy Polish city.

We eventually checked into Good Bye Lenin hostel for a couple of nights and again I headed off on my own as Hugo just wanted to laze around. Wieliczka salt mines were my destination after a short 30 minute bus journey out of the city. I had to rely on an old local woman to point me in the right direction of the mines as I got off a stop too late and very grateful I was too as she didn’t speak a word of English but must have guessed where I was going.

The mines were 150 metres below ground so I had to walk down about 400 steps to get to see the worlds deepest Chapel where even the chandeliers are made of rock salt albeit grey in colour rather than white. It was more interesting than I thought it would be and the guide was informative with his stories but at the end of the day its still difficult to get over the fact that its all just a load of salt and therefore hard to take too serious. Luckily a lift could take us back up to the surface.

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Once back in Krakow I looked around Wawel Hill which had a really beautiful castle and cathedral and in the evening our excellent hostel had a cooking Polish food together type event which was a nice way of meeting a few other guests staying there.

  

A 90 minute bus trip the following morning took us to Auschwitz which was probably my main reason for wanting to visit Krakow. Overall, it was a thoroughly interesting  place to visit and the concentration camps and their rather gruesome stories in the barracks were a fascinating insight into such a horrific piece of history. After such a day we certainly needed a few drinks so went out on a pub crawl with people from the hostel which for some reason only included two places.

  

The good thing about Krakow is that its small, compact and easy to walk around which I did for my swansong on my final morning taking in Kazimierz Jewish quarter and the Old Town which was nice but difficult given the -10 degrees celsius temperature.

 
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Euro Trip 2008/09 Pt V – Vienna (Austria)

Posted on January 26, 2009 by tokyofox

Having ‘done’ Bratislava quicker than I imagined I decided to take a day return to Vienna as it was only an hour away for just nine euro’s return on the train. Hugo was being a miserable git and decided to stay put in Slovakia as he wanted to just sit around reading a newspaper or something. A waste of time in my opinion but I guess the beauty of travelling is that you just do whatever you wanna do.

Consequently, I went alone and got off to an awful start but I wasn’t the only one! When the platform for our train was announced 10 minutes before its departure a small cluster of people went to platform 1 where a train was waiting. One guy opened the door and got on and about eight more of us followed suit but as soon as we stepped onto the train we were shocked as it started moving very slowly ending up at the depot five minutes away where we then had to run back along the track resulting in all of us missing our intended 11am train and so we then had to wait nearly an hour for the next one!

Didn’t bother with any tram or train tickets once in Vienna as I headed first for Schönbrunn Palace on the outskirts which featured in the 1987 James Bond film ‘The Living Daylights‘. My initial bad impressions (due to the seemingly ever-present scaffolding on such places) were thankfully soon to be found wide of the mark when I went round the back and saw the beautiful sunny sight of the Gloriette structure in the distance from the Palace which would provide great views across the city as well as of the Palace.

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After that I went to Stephansplatz in the city to see the humungous Stephansdom and walked on over through the picturesque Hofberg Imperial Palace area avoiding purchase of most things which seemed so expensive now I was back in Western Europe. After about four hours looking round Vienna it was time to head back to Bratislava which I did but not before I’d made another (slight) mistake as I got on a train which took me to a station on the other side of Bratislava. Without a map I just got on a bus which many locals were getting on and hoped for all hell that it was heading back over the river to the part of the city I recognised. Luckily it did just that and I had a few hours left before Hugo and I would take the overnight train out of Slovakia.

    

Posted in Euro Travel, Films, James Bond, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Euro Trip 2008/09 Pt IV – Bratislava (Slovakia)

Posted on January 19, 2009 by tokyofox

Having packed our bags the nights before (easy for light traveller Hugo who only brought what he was wearing and a few changes of underwear!) we had to get up at 5.30am to get to the bus station in time for our jourmey out of Hungary and into Slovakia an hour later. It was the coldest bus ever and I slept for a short while before waking up wondering which country we were in. Still Hungary!

As we later drove straight through some run-down place with broken windows posing as passport control. I thought there might be some short procedure with a passport check but that was definitely not the case. We just hopped on a random tram where luckily some stranger pointed us in the right direction where we eventually checked into Hostel Vegas which was run by a young Slovak guy who had lived in Brixton and had certainly picked the English sarcasm and sense of humour.

We headed straight out for Bratislava Castle which was, as often seems to be the case with tourist attractions, a little under-reconstruction and nothing too special to be honest but the city itself was a lovely little place to just wander around. We later walked on up to some tall statue on a hill overlooking the whole of Bratislava which gave the typical panoramic view of the city and beyond.

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On a much lighter note the snow on the parked cars seemingly gave the excuse for some people to draw phallic symbols on the windscreen or bonnet and there were a fair number of these throughout the city. Needless to say that we joined in with this “craze”.

Our room-mate was from Indonesia and spoke German and only a tiny bit of English so I ended up speaking by far the most German since I lived and worked in Hamburg in 2003. This guy came out with us for dinner at the Slovak pub where I had bryndza sheeps cheese as part of a pasta dish with pork which was very nice.

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Euro Trip 2008/09 Pt III – Budapest (Hungary)

Posted on January 14, 2009 by tokyofox

Having touched down in Budapest on the 30th I took the cheaper option of taking a local bus and then the metro to my hostel in Pest where I met up with Hugo a few hours later for the first time in nearly four years.

The following morning was bitterly cold as we walked over chain bridge to the Buda side and on upto Castle Hill where Buda Castle is located offering fairly impressive views of the city. I say ‘fairly’ as it was a bit grey and the weather was freezing cold. It was almost unbearable to take out my map or camera at times but I was faring way better than Hugo who, despite his muscular build, was being a right girls blouse moaning about the cold. What did he expect coming to Eastern Europe in the Winter?!!

   

We battled the weather via a few hot drink stops and after seeing the wonderful Roman-esque architcture of Fisherman’s Bastion we headed back over to Pest taking in St. Stephens Basilica and the state Opera House on route to the House of Terror which was closed as it was New Years Eve. We were the further disappointed that we couldn’t get into two thermal baths as they were closing early. Hugo had had enough of the cold so went back to the hostel while I took a short hike up to the Citadell for a panoramic view of the city at sunset which was far more impressive than the earlier overcast views.

 

With low expectations for the arrival of the new year at midnight we just got some alcohol from the supermarket and sat in the hostel playing chess. Very rock and roll but believe it or not it attracted some attention and after talking to some American twins and a Canadian guy the five of us headed out to a nearby bar which emptied out completely at 11.30pm leaving just our group. We followed suit at 11.55pm ending up in the neighbouring bar for the start of 2009 before we were then asked to leave as we had inadvertently gate-crashed a private party!

Didn’t do too much on New Years Day other than book our bus to Bratislava for the following day, sample Goulash soup and relax at Gellert thermal baths which were better in appearance than in temperature in my opinion. Having experienced onsen in Japan a few times I guess I was expecting it to be hotter than the 40 degrees which it was. Still, it was way better than being outside in the ridiculous minus temperatures!

 
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Euro Trip 2008/09 Pt II – Leicestershire (UK)

Posted on January 7, 2009 by tokyofox

The Eurostar took me from Paris to London St Pancras and from there I took another train back to my hometown arriving in the early hours of the morning at my parents house. No such reverse-culture shocks this year as it was the third time to be back in 12 months! It was good to be back and as I get older I appreciate it more and more though, overall, it wasn’t on a par with last December’s festivities.

Maybe the credit crunch played a part in this but I think it was because my friends and I are getting older and with that other old school friends coming out of the woodwork on Christmas eve is becoming even rarer. On top of that I was back last year for the first time in years and so being reaquainted with what was once so familiar didn’t have as much of an impact this year.

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I went out for a few beers on Christmas eve afternoon and many more at night which didn’t live up to last years outing. Christmas day was always gonna be more quiet as it was just my parents and me with sister Lorna and husband Stuart coming back for just one night on the 27th in anticipation of my dad’s birthday on the 29th. Boxing day was still quite good with a heavy afternoons drinking and party at my mates house following the Fernie Hunt meet in the local village which was attended by about 2000 people.

  

I did get to see my team Leicester City in action on the 27th against Hereford United in what was my first ever third tier league match. Nothing too special but at least we won and stay top of the league and on course for an automatic return to the Championship.

     
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Euro Trip 2008/09 Pt I – Paris (France)

Posted on December 27, 2008 by tokyofox

Back when I was nine I did a school project on Paris which whetted my appetite for going to the French capital. 22 years later and I finally went there as a short pit-stop on my way back to the UK from Japan. Surprising to many that I’d never been but when such a city was always in close proximity I never felt in a rush to go there.

After a 12.5 hour flight I arrived in Gay Paree and once I’d located my £13 a night hostel I dumped my bags in and headed out on the Metro. Lined with trees lit-up in silver the Champs Elysees really was a beautiful site with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. I didn’t hang around there for too long though as I knew I’d be returning the following day as I wanted to see that and the Eiffel Tower by night and by day. The latter was next and like the Arc before, it was like I’d seen it before but I guess that’s what can happen when you’ve constantly seen such icons on TV and in print.

Photo stops at Sacre-Coeur and Moulin Rouge rounded off a very very long day and I was in bed by 11pm before being rudely woken up by my Japanese room-mate who didn’t seem to understand the notion of courtesy towards his fellow travellers as he went about his business with such noise that suggested he was in his own home.

      

Breakfast was followed by The Louvre which was like a crystal maze at times and difficult to navigate for me. You could spend hours there and barely scratch the surface. I spent two hours in total so you can imagine how quick I was! The smaller-than-expected Mona Lisa and the Egyptian stuff was enough for me. I was more impressed by the outside courtyards.

 

Notre Dame was next up and then I walked up and down the Eiffel Tower (at under 25 price too!) which really did offer impressive views which is quite refreshing given the number of towers I’ve been up over the years.

Returning to the Arc de Triomphe my Paris adventure finished with a stroll in the drizzle down the Champs Elysees to Place de la Concorde. Many people said Paris couldn’t be done in 24 hours but I was more than happy with what I got done in that time.

 
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