Smoke Gets In Your Eyes….In Japan But Not In Britain!

Posted on January 13, 2008 by tokyofox

As someone who is asthmatic and never ever tried a single cigarette, it’s an understatement to say that I don’t really like smoking. It was therefore very nice to experience the smoke-free pubs in Britain for the first time over the festive season and be able to go home not absolutely stinking of smoke.

I just wish Japan would catch-up with the western world regarding its smoking laws but I very much doubt it will. Unlike the UK, very few bars are on the ground floor (due to space) in Tokyo so rather than popping outside for a quick fag, it would mean taking a lift down or even up and then returning.

For a country fairly obsessed with its food, its actually worse for smoking here as eating is a major part of the ‘going out’ experience which inevitably leads to an ‘added’ flavour. Some restaurants don’t even have non-smoking sections which is not very nice in a country where such a high proportion of people smoke.

It’s not so surprising maybe given that they are four times cheaper than in the UK and also freely available from the ubiquitous vending machines. Although there are allotted smoking areas around the city and on the platforms, many people still choose to smoke on the move which is not so good in crowded streets where you can’t escape the poisoned air. In my opinion, its quite ridiculous that if you eat a burger in public in this country then you’re frowned upon but smoking and passively passing it on to others is deemed ok.

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Back Down The City

Posted on January 10, 2008 by tokyofox

On the 29th of December I made my long awaited return to see Leicester City take on Charlton at Filbert Way more commonly known as the Walkers Stadium. My last game nearly three years ago ended in a draw as did this one with City snatching a draw from the jaws of victory with an ex-City boy coming up with the crucial knockout blow at the death. Ever since I came to Japan four years ago the club that I have supported since I was a boy have been in decline with a Management revolving door that probably compares with any telesales company.

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This performance was as they say “nothing to write home about” (that won’t stop me as I need to fill these pages with dross equal to that on the pitch!) and its sad for me to say that I didn’t feel such a connection to the team anymore. This is not just because I have been foxiled but with no continuity in terms of the aforementioned Managers as well as players coming and going each year and seemingly not giving a toss about the club.

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I don’t know if it’s just my age now (idolising players younger than me seems a bit strange) but there are no players that I can look up to, admire. respect and identify with anymore so I’m quite thankful to be away from it for now. Having said that I will no doubt return at the nearest possible point next time I’m back to see my team who are unbelievably the most successful team, in terms of cup wins, of the last 12 years outside the big four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

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Christmas Back In Britain

Posted on January 8, 2008 by tokyofox

After a 31-month exile (my longest ever time away) I arrived back home in Britain on the 22nd of December, but I somehow never felt any reverse-culture shock as the days went by. Christmas eve was spent in my hometown of Market Harborough (Leicestershire) where I was re-united with my old school mates and nearly double figures were reached in the pint stakes as we spent many hours talking complete b*ollocks. No pleasantries, greetings or catch-up stories for us I can tell you!

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Christmas Day at my parents’ house for the first time in three years included the bonus visit of my sister Lorna and her husband-to-be Stuart. Never really appreciated the day too much in the past but you certainly can after quite a few ones away. Crackers, jokes, party hats, a turkey dinner, mince pies and a few presents to open was definitely way better than the last two years when I’ve just been pottering around in Fukuoka and Ho Chi Minh City respectively. Having brought a stack of Japanese related presents for everyone it was nice to see their reactions (bemusement in many cases!) when they unwrapped them after dinner.

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Boxing Day (26th December) was a great occasion with the Fernie Meet mid-morning which is basically some traditional hunt event where about 1000 people congregate on the green in Great Bowden among some horses (and dogs) which the 50 or so huntsmen and women eventually ride off on to hunt some foxes….or at least they did do that last part before the ban. Not sure what they do do now to be honest.

Once that was done, I left my parents to go in the nearby pub to start 11 hours of drinking with my mate Sam and his family and other hangers-on. After a few expensive hours there we moved on to his family home for a house party and following on from the previous days interactive dvd quiz I was again involved in another family battle of the brains which were both good fun.

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Tokyo’s Finger-Lickin Good Christmas!

Posted on December 21, 2007 by tokyofox

Merrii Kurisimasu as the Japanese say! It won’t surprise too many people to know that Christmas is done very different over this way but what i didn’t know until only recently was how KFC is a popular custom for Christmas Eve and Day. Tokyoites stream to Colonel Sanders’ restaurants to purchase special Kentucky Christmas buckets and unbelievably there are often large queues for what will always be considered fast food however its dressed up.

Very very few Japanese people are Christians so all their Christmas ideas come from America but without much care for attention it seems. They have chicken because its more tasty even though tradition dictates it should be turkey. Having chicken is one thing but having fried chicken is something else! This may be due to mosty Japanese kitchens not having ovens as most of us know them. The toaster oven pales in comparison but given the more confined space in Tokyo homes thats about all there’s room for.

Whereas the Western World consider Christmas Day as a family day the Japanese see it as a day for young lovers to spend precious time with each other in terms of restaurants and the many love hotels which are booked in advance rather than just turning up like usual.

As for the decorations they are unbelievably taken down on the 25th in preparation for the New Years ones and after all the (mostly commercial) hype Christmas Day is just a normal working day like any other.

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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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