Christmas Party 2007 #2

Posted on December 18, 2007 by tokyofox

It was the turn of Shibuya school (along with Shinjuku and Ikebukuro) to host its Christmas Party on Saturday night at ‘The Rose & Crown’ British Bar. This was a much bigger affair than the one two weeks ago in terms of numbers; 110 students, about 20 teachers and three hours duration.

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My rather piss-poor cheap alter-ego Father Christmas made his first appearance during the day for a kids lesson (see first photo) and and he made a short guest appearance at the party too in one of many lowlights of the party! Although I had quite a good time chatting with my five students for most of the night a lot of things didn’t go quite to plan.

Unlike what we thought, we didn’t have the whole pub exclusively for our party, the food was very limited, there was no warning of last orders for the drinks and the microphone wasn’t loud enough for the large amount of students to hear the instructions or rules for the games. Personally, I didn’t really ever get in a really jolly festive mood for whatever reason and despite drinking till gone 5am at the after-show party i still never got too drunk.

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Hippo-critical Of Zoo’s?! Not Me!

Posted on December 14, 2007 by tokyofox

When I first came to Japan four years ago one of the first touristy places I visited was Ueno Zoo (not too sure why to be honest as I had never really been a ‘zoo’ person) and last week I returned to the place. The star attraction probably has to be Ling Ling, the Chinese Panda which spent most of its time with its back to the waiting crowd but when we returned later it did as good as come out and pose for a few photos for a few seconds which was most welcome. Seeing it take a dump nearer closing time not so!!

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My girlfriend and I spent a few hours witnessing the activity of the usual suspects; lions, tigers, gorillas, elephants, penguins, hippos and a an absolutely huge tortoise that was well into its 70’s. Being Japan there were also a fair few opportunities to get your photo taken alongside a fake animal which we inevitably did such as with the Panda Santa. What I did find quite sad though were some mothers almost forcing their toddlers to do the photo peace sign which the Japanese love so much.

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This Temple In Ikebukuro Offers Beautiful Autumn Leaves

Posted on December 9, 2007 by tokyofox

It may only be seconds from my house but I can easily count on one hand how many times I have been to Kishibojin Temple next door. I run by the thing twice a week when working out but so rarely go in there. That all changed though recently after seeing a students photos of her daughter for a ceremony. I thought how good the temple looked among the Autumn leaves and so last Sunday I took a quick photo trip to get outside for a bit and help nurse my hangover.

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Christmas Party 2007 #1

Posted on December 7, 2007 by tokyofox

On the first day of December three of my schools had a Christmas Party for which yours truly was the MC for the night as I was the longest serving of the six teachers present……and by some distance too which is a little scary.

30 students were present and my role was to get the party started meaning that I just stood up getting their attention with a cr*p “Ho ho ho” Father Christmas before heading into a load of pleasantries (thanks for coming, hope you have a nice time etc etc) and introducing the teachers before raising a toast. Amazingly that went very well even if I do say so myself!

Lots of clapping in between all my sentences and for each teacher too made me feel very at ease speaking in front of a group of people which is something i’ve not done since my days at University.

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The nights proceedings (i.e. drinking and eating!) were interspersed with a few games just to mix things up a bit. These included a “janken” (“rock, scissors, paper”) contest, chinese whispers and an anagrams game of jumbled up Christmas-related words which was about the only thing vaguely Christmas-y about the whole night.

Although the whisper game didn’t go quite to plan the night was still enjoyed by most or at least it was by the seven of my students who were present! Party #2 is coming up next weekend and, though I enjoyed my MC duties, I will be glad to be concentating solely on the drinking and eating parts!

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Its A ‘P Yes P’ For Me

Posted on November 30, 2007 by tokyofox

Never thought it would happen to me but a couple of weeks ago I only went and bought the new slim n’ light PSP and with it the Fifa Soccer ’08. Now i haven’t owned any type of game-playing machine since the Amstrad CPC 464 which its fair to say was in quite a different era for such things. I spent a little extra on the import version of the game as i wanted the English commentary which is provided by ITV’s Clive Tyldesley and Sky’s Andy Gray and mostly good it is too though obviously there are times whne it doesn’t really match up with the action!

Just starting a game of football was quite problematic as I had no idea that there was an analog stick (disguised as a tiny speaker) for directional use rather than the cursor keys or whatever they’re called. I couldn’t score for my first half dozen games but then got into the habit of drawing and scoring before finally winning against Norwich City (who my dad supports not that that is really of relevence here). Maybe I’d have done better if I didn’t choose to be Leicester but one bonus (?) is that a fortnight later I am definitely now more familiar with a team of players that has changed so much in the last few years.

There’s still so many features that I haven’t looked into but goalkeepers coming up for corners if you need a goal in injury time is quite exciting and I have managed to get my keeper to score a couple of times albeit not from said corners!

It certainly fills a few gaps between lessons but I’ve not yet started playing it on the train like some geeks mostly because I can’t help but commentate and shout things when i play it.

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English Made In Japan Pt I

Posted on November 26, 2007 by tokyofox

The term Japanglish refers to ‘made in Japan’ English words not understandable to native English speakers. Inevitably, being in Japan for a number of years you tend to become Japanified which entails small and subtle changes in speech, manner and eating habits. This maybe also includes understanding Japanese speakers of English better than those not in Japan and possibly being able to work out their intended meaning. That was what I thought anyway until I used an article by Alex Case (taken from my schools teachers newsletter) in some of my lessons over the last month or so.

Far too many examples to list here so I’ve selected a few choice ones:

* ‘High teens‘ refers to people between the age of 15 and 19 rather than young people on drugs.

* ‘No Make‘ means no make-up and not no brand.

* A ‘Health Meter‘ is bathroom scales, not a blood pressure monitor.

* ‘TV Games‘ are not quiz shows on TV but what we know as video games.

* ‘Magic Pens‘ are marker pens and not anything to do with invisible ink.

* An ummarried older lady is known as ‘High Miss‘ whereas we may think its a tall lady.

* A ‘Cutter‘ is a knife used on paper rather than someone who edits films.

* Who would have thought that ‘Season Off‘ means a time when most people DON’T take a holiday instead of taking the whole summer off work for example.

These lessons seemed to go down very well with most of my students who were very surprised by how such English phrases would not always have their meaning worked out by English native speakers.

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Donald Ducks In N’ Out Of Tokyo

Posted on November 25, 2007 by tokyofox

I think its fair to say that most people are put off from coming to visit me in Tokyo due to the high prices. Of course the fact that I am living in this metropolis is maybe also reason why only family have visited and that’s probably only because they felt obliged! That all changed a couple of weeks back when my number one Belgian friend Donald popped over for a short visit while he was in China on business.

We met earlier in the year when we travelled around Palawan in the Philippines for the best part of a week. He was left to his own devices in the day but i met up with him for food and drinks on each of the three nights he was ‘in town’. The ‘free hugs’ photo shown is at the chaotic Shibuya crossing and these people are generally ignored by all it seems. Not by a certain Belgian though who certainly wasn’t shy in mixing with the locals and just walking into places such as the capsule hotels which we looked around but didn’t stay in. I hope to one day though!

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I took him to a couple of quirky bars near where I live in Ikebukuro including ‘Mysterious’ (basic dark izakaya featuring sexily dressed waitresses) and The Lockup which is a themed izakaya (Japanese style pub) entered through a Haunted House-style dungeon doorway where a sexy girl clad in a short pvc skirt and knee-high boots handcuffs herself to you and takes you to your dungeon cell which is your table for the night. The waiters and waitresses are resplendent in prison outfits and one of our drinks was a strange concoction of test tubes and scientific beakers laced with alcohol of some sort. Very Japanese but good fun.

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Grampus Eight Up My Appetite For Any More J-League Football!

Posted on November 20, 2007 by tokyofox

This site has the tagline of ‘the Leicester fan in Japan’ but rarely mentions anything to do with the team I’m exiled from. That’s not really going to change in this article but there are two vague references!

The inaugural J-League kicked off in 1992 with a certain Leicester old boy among the ranks of Nagoya Grampus Eight. Gary Lineker was my hero when I started watching Leicester City back in the early 1980’s and I followed his career closely after that so his move to Japan was the first thing I knew about football in the land of the rising sun.

For some strange reason I really wanted to see this team when I came to Japan and I did see them in October 2004 but they were in opposition to my then-newly inherited Kashiwa Reysol team.

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This time they were the opposition to Urawa Reds and yet again I couldn’t watch the game with their fans. J-League games tend to suck a bit and this one was no exception as it ended 0-0 with typical p*ss-poor finishing in front of goal from both teams.

However, it was nice to visit the stadium which was built especially for the 2002 World Cup and with its soaring triangular sails was much more aesthetically pleasing than your average identikit English stadium. I could even see Mount Fuji at sunset in the distance of the stadium corner and this state of the art stadium even included seats with armrests.

The 63,700 capacity stadium was host for four World cup games including the Semi Final between Brazil and Turkey (featuring then-Leicester player Muzzy Izzet whose name inspired my hotmail address), the 2-2 draw between Japan and Belgium and England’s 1-1 draw with Sweden.

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Beijing 2007 Pt III – Back To Square One!

Posted on November 15, 2007 by tokyofox

My second full day was to be my most busy day, and it began by rising at 6:30 am once again. I walked across Tiananmen Square once more and through the Gate Of Heavenly Peace from which the famous portrait of Chairman Mao (of the Communist Party Of China) hangs.

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I entered the Forbidden City when it opened at 8.30am and you can see why guidebooks suggest giving this huge place a whole day of your time. Not for me though! Two and a half hours was enough due in part to a couple of the main parts being covered in green netting ready for next years Olympic games.

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After lunch I took a local bus to the Summer Palace which I was more impressed by. Like the Great Wall, this was also a place of climbing and hiking which is more interesting to me than looking around the temples themselves. This place is beautifully located on the a huge lake which I went on via boat to visit a tiny island and see up-close the 17 arch bridge which connects it to the main land.

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My flight back to Japan was at 1:30 pm the next day but I still had a few things left to do so I got up at 5am and was at Temple of Heaven Park by 6 am for its opening up to the many locals doing tai-chi and other such activities which is how they start each and every day.

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I had a quick wander through some Hutongs after that which are the traditional backstreet type houses which are dropping fast as the City develops in anticipation of next years showpiece occasion. It was nice to walk around freely and catch a glimpse of the ‘real China’ which I didn’t really see too much of at the tourist traps I’d visited on the two days prior.

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I proceeded to walk past the Drum Tower, round Qianhai Lake and through Beihai Park. That place was full of many groups of mostly old people dancing with fans, ribbons and swords (not all together obviously!), and it was all of that which brought the curtain down on a short but very packed three night trip to China.

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Beijing 2007 Pt II – I Must Have Been Quackers To Eat Some Of This Food!

Posted on November 13, 2007 by tokyofox

After about an hour wait I finally got my first taste of Peking Duck (Well it had to be done didn’t it?!) at Beijing DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant near my hostel. It was really delicious and I ordered a feast of food (totalling just over 12 pounds) using up 20% of my whole Beijing budget in all.

As well as half a roast duck and a Yan Jing beer I also ordered mustard duck webs, sayed duck wings and sauteed duck breast in a crispy yam basket and it was probably enough for two or three people!

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The following day I took early lunch at the snack street in Wangfujing and on the menu this time for me was smelly tofu, lamb kebabs and a grasshopper!! Despite all the talk, it  was actually alright and just like crunchy small shrimp to be honest! Yes, really!

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My feast of food  some tasty treats

I returned to Wangfujing in the evening but this time to visit Donghuamen Night Market for pretty much more of the same but on a bigger scale. A few more lamb kebabs were sampled as were banana fritters, crickets and snake!

You can see my Beijing photos here
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