Italia: Play Up Pompeii, Pompeii Play Up!

Posted on August 17, 2009 by tokyofox

Experience told me that I would wake up early on my first day (after the previous days 14 hour flight) I decided to head straight down to the Naples area as I really wanted to go there and thought it best to get it done and dusted sooner rather than later. One of the places I visited was Pompeii which was very interesting to look at although that novelty wore off as I wandered aimlessly among the ruins in the strong afternoon heat trying not to get sunburned as I still hadn’t bought any suncream. Hence, why I am wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and long pants in most of the photos.

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Sadly there wasn’t so much in the way of information boards which are usually sufficient for me. Without a map or info on the history of the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius it was quite hard to get a real feel for the place but a guide would have driven me crazy, making me more tired and with very little information being retained in all likelihood.

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Click here to read ‘Italia 2009 Pt II: Roman Holiday Filming Locations’

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All Set For The Movie Sets

Posted on August 3, 2009 by tokyofox

Last year I wrote a blog saying the dream was over due to financial constraints but given that I then paid nearly two-thirds of that cost just to go to Laos I thought I’d just pay whatever it cost this year as I haven’t had any other holidays in 2009 due to my participation on the TESOL course in the first half of the year.

Anyway, that ‘dream’ is now a reality and I have been doing my preparation for the trip to Rome, Naples and Tunisia but I don’t necessarily mean looking at guidebooks and webpages. No, my “research” has meant watching any films made in these locations. For Italy, this has included ‘Mission: Impossible III‘ (2006) where the inside of Caserta Palace near Naples provided the backdrop for a scene or two.

Of course, there’s also ‘Roman Holiday‘ (1954) which I had never seen before until recently. I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying this kind of film and will now even try and hunt down a few of the sights used in its filming. Also, made me a bit sad that I will not have my girlfriend with me in the Italian capital.

Two years ago I spent my birthday (August 8th) on a plane to Australia, last year it was to Laos and this year is no different. I will be spending my birthday alone yet again taking the plane from Rome to Tunis in Tunisia and then (hopefully) taking the 7 hour bus down south.

A few films have been set on location in Tunisia with these including ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’, ‘The English Patient‘, ‘The Raiders Of the Lost Ark‘ and of course the Star Wars saga where four of the six movies were filmed in Tunisia with the most memorable being ‘A New Hope‘ and ‘The Phantom Menace‘ Going in search of some of the sites used in those two films in particular is my main reason for taking my first trip to Africa and I am very much looking forward to the challenge of getting round Tunisia.

Posted in Films, Movie Locations | Leave a comment

Tokyo Daytripper: The Other Side Of Kawagoe! It’s Not All Traditional Stuff

Posted on July 29, 2009 by tokyofox
川越水上公園 26 July '09 008

It was a beautiful day last Sunday so my girlfriend and I went to Aquatic Park Kawagoe which is about 45 minutes away from where we live by train and bus. This was an unusually cheap place at only Continue reading →

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Tokyo Daytripper: Climbing a Local Mountain & Doing Michael Jackson Impressions!

Posted on July 24, 2009 by tokyofox

I think my girlfriend would be the first to admit she is not the most active of girls so I was most surprised when she suggested going hiking last Sunday up in Saitama. Tobu Takezawa station is about an hour away from where we live and, having got off in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, we then had to walk for about 10-15 minutes just to find the hiking course which would eventually take us to Ogawamachi station by way of a scenic mountain hike.

It ultimately took us about four hours to do. A lot of work you may think just for a mountain that stands at 350 metres high but as with all mountains it’s the achievement of getting there which is most important in my opinion. Of course, the hot and humid summer heat didn’t do anything to make it any easier.

 

The photo below shows me rather poorly impersonating Michael Jackson from his ‘Earth Song’ video.

Back at street level, we came across this beer vending machine (below) which is something I haven’t seen for years and this one even included the mega-sized ones. A rewarding refreshment for our exercise that day!

Click here to read ‘Tokyo Daytripper: Top 10 Saitama Sights’ 

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4 Men on a Road Trip to Mie Prefecture

Posted on July 20, 2009 by tokyofox

It’s been a few years since I actually travelled for more than a few hours outside of Tokyo but last Wednesday morning myself, Ethan and his workmates Charlie and Simon drove over to Mie prefecture which is 5.5 hours away. I had to get up at 4:15 am to meet up with the guys for our 6am departure to Nagashima Spa Land for a couple of days.

I decided to jump on the Michael Jackson bandwagon and added a few of his classics to my iPod which provided a surprisingly atmospheric soundtrack to our journey due in part to all the clapping coming from the back of the car for some reason.

On arrival we were shocked to discover that the worlds longest rollercoaster ‘Steel dragon’ was closed as was the wooden roller-coaster known as ‘White Cyclone’ so with that in mind we opted for the swimming pools and slides for our first day with the hope that the aforementioned rides would be open the following day.

The bad luck didn’t end there though as we were kicked out of the pool area as Simon had a tattoo which are banned in some pools in Japan due to past links to the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). Despite saying he would cover it up there was just no reasoning with the guard which is a really frustrating thing about this country. We got our money back but still lost out as Ethan had got the tickets on the internet at a cheaper price meaning that we would have to pay the normal full price the following day.

Anyway, we spent an enjoyable afternoon on the rides without any waiting in line and the White Cyclone did later open up which was a relief and a bonus. After a funny night out on the beer (due to Charlie’s drunken antics!) we went to the swimming area on our final day with no such tatoo issues this time as Simon was in a t-shirt from the off.

Again, there were hardly any queues and loads of great slides with my favourite being the more simple foam carpet waterslide race which we went on time and time again with the competitiveness between us increasing each time and I was lucky enough to win a fair few of these races.

One of the photos below is of the little machine which you use to dry your swimwear which is something I have never seen before and can only assume its another great Japanese invention. Some of the most immature and juvenile games on the journey back brought the curtain down on a trip which included a fair few ups and downs and that isn’t just said with reference to the rides.

 Nagashima Spa Land 
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Our Own Private Tour of the Stadium in Yokohama Which Hosted The 2002 World Cup Final

Posted on July 13, 2009 by tokyofox

It’s fair to say that seeing Japan co-host the World Cup in 2002 had some bearing on my decision to want to come here to live. At the time I was on the dole so could devote more hours to it than was probably healthy!

 

A couple of years ago I visited the Japan World Cup Museum and last Friday I went to Yokohama to go on a tour of the Nissan Stadium which played host to the World Cup Final where Brazil beat Germany 2-0. As expected there was no-one else wanting to do the tour (there wasn’t even anyone else around anywhere!) so I was lucky enough to get the tour in English by one of the voluntary guides who was a retired man. I was surprised to discover that only four World Cup games were actually played at the stadium.

 

As well as the usual displays of photos, balls, shirts, flags and tickets there was also the handprint of the German goalie Oliver Kahn and the footprint of the Brazil captain Cafu, a reproduction of the Brazil team’s dressing room including replica shirts and signed lockers, a warm-up training room (which was simple but great fun and really brought out the kid in me) and of course the stadium itself which I got to walk out on to aided by the official FIFA 2002 anthem but minus a single other person (apart from my tour guide) there to witness it. All in all, I really enjoyed this tour and can now say that I have been to both the main World Cup Stadiums in Korea and in Japan.

 

You can read ‘World Cup Opening Titles: Japan/Korea 2002’ here

You can read ‘My JSoccer Magazine Article on Japan Football Museum’ here

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Tokyo Has an Olympic Museum. Who Knew?

Posted on July 5, 2009 by tokyofox

With my home country getting ready for the 2012 Olympics and my adopted country hoping for a chance to host the 2016 games I decided to hit the Olympic trail the other Friday and visit my second museum in two days. Following the previous days visit to the Railway Museum, I went to the little known Prince Chichibu Memorial Sports Museum (a.k.a. the Tokyo Olympic Museum) inside the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.

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The entrance was only 300 yen and the place was actually bigger than I expected with exhibits including the winner’s podium from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, torches, athletic uniforms, tickets, mascots, scale models and posters provide an impressive overview of the history of the Olympic Games.

 

There were also displays covering other sports such as rugby and football with some of the World Club Championship memorabilia on view. Certainly not a priority on any Tokyo sightseeing itinerary but a nice little addition to anyone with a keen interest in the Olympics.

 
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Tokyo Daytripper: Did I Really Choo-Choo-Choose To Go To The Railway Museum?

Posted on July 2, 2009 by tokyofox

Now I’m no train spotter but my interest in this form of transport was slightly heightened after reading Keith Lowe’s book ‘Tunnel Vision’ last year which is about a man who is challenged to visit every station of the London Underground in a single day. Trains in Japan are famous for being timed to perfection and are part of my everyday life so with nothing better to do last Thursday Ethan came up with the idea of us going to the Railway Museum in Omiya. This is a huge place and it was actually better than I thought it would be though I’m not sure if it justified the quite costly 1000 yen entrance.

This is a historical and education museum with enough knobs and buttons to play with in the learning hall to keep one interested. The railway model diaroma was probably the most interesting part offering the audience the chance to see a panoramic view of how everything works and how so many trains operate at the same time inter-connecting with each other.

Other attractions included an operation simulator (too much of a queue for us), a mini-shuttle train connecting the place with the park-zone shown in the pictures below, a collection of railway memorabilia including station signs, uniforms and photographs, and a number of historic carriages and steam engines.

     
Posted in Japan Travel, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

I’m Now a Qualified Teacher!

Posted on June 24, 2009 by tokyofox

After five years of teaching English I now finally have a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certificate which is a professional teaching qualification recognised internationally. For the last six months I have been getting up every Sunday on my day-off at 8am (you might not think that’s so early but for someone who gets up at about 11am on weekdays its early!) to go to Kasai which is about 80 minutes away door to door.

The training sessions were between 10am and 6pm and that’s on top of my regular five days at the school so Saturday nights out have been sacrificed and my other day off has often been taken up doing preparation, going to observe other teachers or other such projects.

I had been meaning to do this course for a couple of years but often had other commitments in the past. I thought it was better to start back in January when the weather was more gloomy. It has of course been very nice at times recently but better to have it that way when the end was in sight rather than starting off in July while everyone else is out enjoying the Summer sun.

Though hard work at times, it has to be said that it was really enjoyable thanks to the banter and camaraderie between myself and my fellow course particpants; Arthur, Joe, Mary-Ann, Michael and Paul. The course included teaching practice every Sunday morning followed by two input sessions in the afternoon which were often a struggle due to the tiredness of all involved following what had gone on before. We were split into two groups of three with one group teaching to intermediate/upper-intermediate level while the other did elementary/pre-intermediate level.

As part of the course we learned Welsh for four lessons just so that we knew what it was like with the boot on the other foot. It was quite a shock to be put in this situation and really hammered home how hard it can be for learners of a new language. On top of this we also had to do a 90 minute interview on dictatphone and then complile a huge needs analysis of that student based on their weaknesses in terms of grammatical and phonological problems etc. There was a whole lot more besides that but I won’t bore you with any more details. It was hard work but rewarding nevertheless and I can now look forward to having my days-off back.

The photos below are of our post celebration drink last Sunday (minus Paul who had gone home before the photo was taken) as well as some photos of my final lesson from June 7th

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Dining Out: A Hiss-terical Snake Shaped Sausage

Posted on June 21, 2009 by tokyofox

Back in November last year there was the massive long sausage and last week I came across one in the shape of a cobra snake at Antonio Inoki Saka-Bar which is a themed bar in Ikebukuro owned by an ex-Japanese wrestling legend who of course I have never heard of.

A Hiss-terical Snake Shaped Sausage A Hiss-terical Snake Shaped Sausage

Posted in Food & Drink, Quirky Japan | Leave a comment