Moving Out 2008

Posted on November 11, 2008 by tokyofox
After three and a half years of ‘solitary confinement’ in my wooden fire-hazard shoe-box room in Ikebukuro I finally moved out a couple of weeks back. The place was indeed tiny (245cm x 175cm with a built in closet area) but it was very convenient and cheap by Tokyo standards. When I originally moved in it was intended as a temporary fix and just a place to essentially lay my head and take a shower but I obviously got used to stepping onto my futon as soon as I entered the room (the room was basically just the size of a futon with very good use of shelving and only a 40cm gap at the side of the futon) and having the TV, computer, fridge etc all within arms reach of my sleeping area.
Myself and Scholl (from Hong Kong) both lived in the shared apartment since May 2005 amid a cast of hundreds of other temporary housemates who came and went. During this tme there were always at least three people staying in the five rooms meaning lots of profit for the landlord (lets call him Alan as thats his actual name!) who rented the place from the agency but the moment he couldn’t get an extra person in he fundamentally pulled the plug on it but never actually had the decency to tell us. Instead he mailed Scholl with some b*llocks about having had an accident and being in China where he couldn’t pay the rent. We decided to pay this for October as it was still cheaper and easier than moving out but we knew the writing was on the wall and started to look into moving out as a repeat performance was likely to occur again from the scheming devious Alan. Other guests had often complained about him and to be honest we never really had too many problems but he was increasingly trying to get more money out of us for bills towards the end of our stay which he would never actually show to us. Anyway, our time in Ikebukuro ended a little sour but if I’m seeing my glass as being half full then I guess it was a blessing in disguise and gave us the kick up the a*se we both needed for moving out and moving on with our lives.
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Posted in Japan Life | 1 Comment

A Spook-tacular Halloween (2008)

Posted on November 5, 2008 by tokyofox

The force was strong with my students last week as Halloweeen provided a good excuse to incorporate some Star Wars stuff into the special themed lessons. Having brought my lightsaber back from Britain in September I wanted to show it to the kids (and the adults too) as a treat although the younger ones didn’t have much idea what it actually was. Still, even those with no interest in the movie franchise seemed to enjoy having a quick play with it.

Anyway, long before it was introduced the kids entered the lesson to the X-Files theme (of course unknown to them but thats not the point) to spook them out a bit before the haunting tune of ‘Tubular Bells‘ kicked in and then I introduced my specially made Halloween flashcards and a load of fun games followed culminating in the revealing of my Darth Vader mask and Luke Skywalker lightsaber.

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I can’t say I have ever really done anything for Halloween and am still ignorant of its actual meaning but I have to say that I did enjoy doing something different with my lessons which is always good for both students and teacher in terms of keeping us interested, motivated and entertained.

Posted in English Teaching, Star Wars | 6 Comments

Tokyo Daytripper: Fuji-Q Highland

Posted on October 28, 2008 by tokyofox

A very early start for myself and Ethan a few weeks back as we took the train (for all the buses were booked up) to Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park in the foreground of Japan’s iconic mountain. This was our third visit each and the first time since we went in August a couple of years back.

It was absolutely packed then and we had to wait three hours for then new ride Eejanaika. Our hope in going this late in the season was that it would be empty and we would be able to ride the big ‘uns a few times. No such luck sadly as we still had to wait about an hour for the main four rides and the fact that the park closes at 5pm out of the Summer season meant we had no time for any duplicate rides.

Couldn’t be bothered to waste time taking photos of the rollercoasters but did take a couple at Thomas Land (a kids area based on Thomas The Tank Engine which is simply known as Thomas in Japan) which we walked through on our lunch-break.

Posted in Action & Adventure, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

F1 Stars In Tokyo For Motor Sport 2008 Expo

Posted on October 21, 2008 by tokyofox

The man-made island of Odaiba played host to the Tokyo Motor Sport 2008 expo on Sunday 5th October and Ethan and I went there to see what was going on. It was a lovely sunny morning and a rare chance to see a couple of Formula One stars (namely Honda’s Jenson Button and Toyota’s Timo Glock) burning rubber for free although it was quite difficult to see anything much unless you paid 3000 yen for a grandstand seat.

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Apart from putting the cars through their paces around a tiny circuit, spinning the cars and looking at a couple of classic F1 cars there wasn’t too much of interest for me at this event.

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There were plenty of rally, F1, Formula Nippon, Super GT (and so on) cars to look at and inevitably a load of stalls for the merchandise hungry Japanese. Oh yeah, and there were a few pit-lane babes there who were very pleasing on the eye.

After a couple of hours there we made our way home via foot over Rainbow Bridge which took over an hour but most importantly saved us money at a time when I had to really stretch it.

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Posted in Action & Adventure | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mind Your Manners

Posted on October 7, 2008 by tokyofox

The posters pictured below have been appearing in the Tokyo Metro stations since about April and depict things which are deemed inappropriate for on the trains. The Japanese may be famed for their politeness and on the whole they are much better behaved than back home where people are often seen and heard in terms of mobile phone use.

However, there are a select few who do things which don’t follow the traditions of Japanese etiquette. The posters (one different one each month) have been getting a bit desparate of late but the earlier ones were good and highlighted some problems which many find irritating such as noise pollution from earphones and taking up half of the seat next to you which some of you may find quite pernickety but this is Japan where rules are considered to be of far greater importance than in the western world where people do what they can to bend the rules.

I really don’t see why someone should be frowned upon for whispering into their phone behind their hand (a very Japanese thing to do) when salarymen get on the trains late at night reeking of alcohol and speaking at an unnecessarily high volume but because they are not on their phones they get away with it.

The thing I hate to see seems to have died down recently (maybe a successful campaign therefore!) but was very common a while back with young girls choosing to put on their make-up throughout their journey. Of course I am a fan of the way the Japanese females look and they certainly make great efforts in tarting themselves up each day but surely no-one wants to see them putting on their face in full view of other commuters.

Posted in Japan Life, Quirky Japan | 1 Comment

Back To Britain Pt II – A Castle, A Lightsaber & My Nephew!

Posted on September 30, 2008 by tokyofox

I didn’t have too many spare moments when I was back in England but wanting to make the most of our trip to Leicester  to collect the wedding suits I asked my dad to take me to a few places. First up was the theatre of nightmares more commonly known as the Leicester City FC stadium on Filbert Way for some photos and a visit to the club shop to pick up a very romantic(?) gift for my girlfriend!

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Eco House was next which is an environmental show home and somewhere I have wanted to visit since a student chose it in one of my lessons as the place he’d most like to visit in Leicestershire. Sadly I couldn’t tell him too much about it and I still won’t be able to add much more as it was closed on our arrival. Castles are a part of English life which are often of interest to students with a keen interest in Britain so with that in mind we dropped in to Kirby Muxloe to see the castle there. This was also closed but walking around the moat was sufficient enough.

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I guess the most interesting part of the trip was seeing my 13 month old nephew Eifion who I hadn’t seen since the very early days of his life in Melbourne last August. So interesting to watch him and see how fascinated he was with things. He may have a host of proper toys but give him a spoon, a roll-on deodorant, a CD and the DVD/TV cabinet doors and he was in his element having a great time. Also, he had no sense of fear when it came to getting in the water for a bath and having water poured on him whereas I hated such things until I was about 10!

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On our return from the wedding I finally realised a childhood dream and got my hands on my lightsaber which I bought on-line in a drunken moment a few months back! It even made the same power up, idle hum, swing, clash and power down sounds like in the Star Wars films.

As a fan of the franchise I was then able to see ‘Bring Back…Star Wars’ on Channel 4 with comedian Justin Lee Collins which was a bonus as I really enjoyed his ‘Bring Back…The A-Team’ show. The aim was to reunite the main players from the original trilogy for a re-union meeting but that was never really going to happen as Messrs Ford and Hamill were so unlikely to take part which makes the latter’s appearance at July’s Star Wars Celebration Japan all the more remarkable.

The rest of the cast make occasional appearances at Star Wars conventions so getting them together wasn’t probably as difficult as one may think. Having said all that it was still good fun to watch the host going after them and interviewing them about the rifts and so on.

Posted in Family, Leicester City, Star Wars | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Back To Britain Pt I – My Sister’s Wedding

Posted on September 19, 2008 by tokyofox

On 11th September I went back to Blighty and even got to turn left on boarding the plane as I was upgraded (no such luck on the return!) which was a new experience. The reason for my five day return flight was to see my sister tie the knot at the Country Cottage Hotel in Nottingham at the weekend.

The gods were certainly smiling down on Lorna and Stuart as the recent rainclouds stayed away in favour of glorious sunshine. Without doubt I was looking the smartest I’d ever looked in my life wearing the same suits as the groom, the best man, fathers of the bride and groom and the ushers.

At 1pm we all rose to our feet as my sister Lorna made her way down the aisle to be by the side of Stuart to the tune of Chariots of Fire (yes, really!) before saying “I do”, reading their vows and all that which was over in a flash.

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Champagne and photos (involving every possible combination of party guests) followed that and then it was time for the speeches from my dad (father of the bride), Stuart (the groom) and Matt (the best man) which were all very entertaining and in the case of Stuart’s in particular, quite emotional at times but yours truly didn’t feel moved enough to shed a tear or two.

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Having been out of England so much in the naughties I have missed a fair few friends getting hitched and so this was actually my first wedding since I was about 11 and very enjoyable it was too though I was battling agains the odds at times in terms of trying to overcome my jet-lag.

The wedding meal, confetti reception (once the newly weds had returned from their tour of Nottingham in the name of photos), cutting of the cake, first dance and disco all completed a very long day. Admittedly, going home for a long weekend may have been a pain in the ar*e in terms of getting time off and paying over-inflated flight costs but ultimately I was very glad that I made the effort. I enjoyed it very much and would even go as far to say that it surpassed Scott and Charlene’s wedding in the Aussie TV soap ‘Neighbours‘ in the late 80’s! I now await my next wedding appearance but who knows when that will be?!!

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Posted in Family | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

TF Film Review: Star Wars – The Clone Wars (2008)

Posted on September 5, 2008 by tokyofox

The Star Wars Celebration Japan event in July wasn’t just celebrating 30 years of Star Wars in Japan but was also about promoting the new animated movie ‘The Clone Wars‘ (released in Japan on August 23rd) which was originally intended to be a TV series pilot filling in the gaps between ‘Episode II: Attack of the Clones‘ (2002) and ‘Episode III: Revenge of the Sith‘ (2005).

I do remember from the aforementioned event that director Dave Filloni did say that he had become interested in the Clone Wars from the moment he heard Luke Skywalker ask Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi “You fought in the Clone Wars?” in ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope‘ (1977). Can’t say that it got me thrilled or that I was too concerned about these blanks so it was with fairly low expectation that I went to the cinema last Friday to see how things were developing in this latest part of the Star Wars saga.

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Myself and Gideon weren’t the only Star Wars geeks there as there was a single line of loner ‘otaku’ (nerd or geek) going down a fair few rows with them all sitting in the middle of the row. The plot is a bit thin, desperate and fairly forgettable but with no expectatation and hype surrounding the movie I was able to enjoy it. Of course if you’re not a Star Wars fan then it obviously won’t appeal and I’m sure its not even designed for us original trilogy generation fans either.

The dialogue was inevitably cliched but I thought that about ‘Revenge of the Sith‘ (2005) so no real change there! The addition of new female character Ahsoka Tano was not as bad as I thought it would be and it was actually quite enjoyable watching her banter with Anakin at times. The storyline involving Jabba the Hutt and his kidnapped son Rotta did slightly remind me of the far, far superior Dr Evil and Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies but overall I would have to say that I didn’t mind the film. High praise indeed!!

Tokyo Fox Rating 7/10

Posted in Films, Star Wars, TV Shows | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

TF Film Review: The Dark Knight (2008)

Posted on September 2, 2008 by tokyofox

Of the comic book heroes the one that I always liked best was Batman. I could come out with some cool reason for preferring him to Spider-man or Superman like the fact that he has no truly supernatural powers. Sadly I wasn’t that thoughtful as a kid and a more likely (but still probably not true) reason was that I just liked the idea of wearing blue underpants over the top of grey trousers better than the other outfits! Or it may have even been because I played Batman in the school playground and in later years really liked the Batman game on the Amstrad CPC 464. As you can see I was easily pleased as a child! More likely reason is that I just thought (and still do) that Batman’s more cool than the other super-heroes.

Now I’m not really a cinema-goer but for some reason I have seen most of the Batman movies on the big screen (I did give Batman and Robin a miss though) so I was very keen to see The Dark Knight (released in Japan on August 9th) which I went to a couple of weeks ago with Gideon.

I loved Batman Begins in 2005 and this was gripping stuff too and thoroughly enjoyable although Christian Bale’s voice as Batman seems to be more over the top than in the last film. Overlong too though thats more to do with my poor concentration for films beyond the 90-120 minute mark. Anyway, it did enough for me to live up to its hype which was of course heightened by the death of Heath Ledger who gave a very dark and fairly scary performance as The Joker fitting in with the films quite threatening image.

After a couple of hours my chair started to jolt which I thought at first was due to Gideon having a shaky leg but it wasn’t him and neither was it a special effect of the cinema as this was no Universal Studios ride. Instead the room was shaking due to one of the earthquakes which take place in Japan day in day out.

Tokyo Fox Rating 9/10

Posted in Films | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Fishermen Getting Caught Up In Their Work!

Posted on August 29, 2008 by tokyofox

Over the last month I have done a few Summer Schools which are extended Summer holiday lessons for kids revolving around a certain topic different from the regular lessons. This year I was teaching Lower Elementary level students on the theme of ‘Sea-Life’ which, with a fair bit of planning on my behalf, was something I actually came quite close to enjoying!

The children in the three schools (including my standby day when I was called up and sent to another district to do the two hour lesson at the drop of a hat) seemed to really enjoy it too and it was nice to create a bit of atmosphere for them by giving the illusion that we were actually at sea with alphabet alphamats being used as islands with shark flashcards in between representing the infested waters which would lead to the kids losing a life (and thus sinking their raft on the whiteboard) if they stepped off the islands or dropped a ball in the sea for example. Of course most of you reading this (presumably all adults) will not be able to suspend such belief!!

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In addition to my regular games were ‘School of underwater rock’ (basically using the lego box as a drum and playing an umbrella as a guitar while singing some naff tune that I made up on the spot heavily influenced by ‘wheels on the bus’), ‘blindfold swimming’ (sea creature cards given out with students swimming round the circle of other kids asking if they have a crab or starfish card for example) and the grand finale of ‘magnetic fishing’ using a makeshift rod (a paintbrush with a shoe-lace attached with a magnet taped to the other end) to fish for the creature word cards which had a paperclip taped to the back providing the magnetism. If you don’t understand any of the above then maybe the pictures will give you some idea.

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Posted in English Teaching | 1 Comment