Meet Tokyo’s……Fast Food Restaurant Customers

Posted on April 19, 2007 by tokyofox

As maybe the only person who still wanted a ‘Big Mac’ after watching the ‘Super Size Me‘ (2004) documentary film it should be no surprise that I sometimes like nothing better than a visit to the golden arches (known in these parts as Makudonardos or just simply ‘Mac’) or ‘First Kitchen‘ which is the Japanese equivalent selling delicious flavoured fries.

Like most other things going to these types of restaurants is different in Japan as there are many types of person there. The first type of person is the one like myself; the gaikokujin who pops in and scoffs down a set meal while being surprised and amazed at the others. Space is limited in Tokyo so many people use fast food restaurants to relax in. Other common types are:

Sleeping Schoolgirl – this girl buys maybe one or two cheap things on the menu and consumes them with all her books out before inevitably falliing asleep as only Japanese people can in public.

Preening Queen – this is the girl who uses the restaurant more as a make up studio and concentrates all efforts on her appearance using a number of different tools and sprays.

Seat Hogger – this person doesn’t seem to understand that seats are limited but still selfishly uses up an extra seat or two for their coat and/or bag and gets away with it due to the Japanese lack of confrontation.

The One Drink Nurser – they buy one cheap 100 yen coffee and think this entitles them to while away hours conducting their business or reading or whatever while nursing their drink.

The Free Meeting Venue – usually consisting of old biddies having nothing more than a drink each while having their coffee morning chinwag.

The Slow Eater – This may help explain why Japanese girls are usually slimmer than their western counterparts. Although they may buy a regular meal they seem shy of eating it and just nibble at a few fries before they go cold and a few more are later consumed before the rest is left.

No doubt there are many more types but overall fast food restaurants seem to be far from a quick in-and-out for many Japanese who use the place as an office, library or their own quiet place away from their families and the everyday pressures and intensity which comes with living in such an over-populated city.

Posted in Food & Drink | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A New School Year

Posted on April 13, 2007 by tokyofox

The new school year started in Japan this month which for me meant Spring Schools and new kids groups. I’ve talked about these schools before but for the benefit of the new reader(s) they are an extra two hour lesson (10am-12noon) for kids before our regular shift. Parents may regard this as a chance for their children to be educated further in English whereas others think its a good chance to get rid of them for a couple of hours!!

These ‘special’ schools weren’t as well-attended as last year so I only had two of them during the recent term break; the first was with Higher Elementary students and the second was with a Kindergarten group and that one was probably my smoothest one yet. Despite the earlier start to my day I was actually close to enjoying myself!

Two regular fun groups departed at the end of March with one of them being a mixed group of gigglers who always found things far more funnier than they actually were but thats kids for you. The one that really got to me though was a six year old called Rika who I have taught for the whole two years with this conversation school. Seeing her progress during that time was a pleasure for me to observe and i have to say I did feel a touch emotional when she said goodbye for the final time, said thankyou and presented me with a farewell box of biscuits.

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Tokyo Daytripper: Monkeying Around In Nikko

Posted on April 9, 2007 by tokyofox

Cherry blossoms in full bloom and temperatures in the late twenties last Sunday can only have meant one thing! However, i ignored the temptation to have a ‘hanami’ party and went about 140km north to visit Nikko in Tochigi with Gideon. After getting up at 7am we finally arrived there at about 11.30am having buggered up our final connection and sampled the local speciality straight away with Yuba (soy bean milk) soba for early lunch which I thought was very nice but as is often the case in Japan it wasn’t so filling.

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First up on the sightseeing was the UNESCO World Heritage listed Toshogu Shrine which really is a beautiful sight and thats coming from someone who doesn’t really like shrines (which may surprise regular readers who have maybe read some of my dull reports on other shrines and temples recently) so much and is often underwhelmed by most things.

I first visited this site nearly three years ago during the summer of 2004 and that was not such good timing as the place was packed full with coach-loads of school kids but this time it was nowhere as busy on that scale but still full of other tourists as is the case if you go anywhere in Japan on weekends or national holidays which tend to be the only times when the Japanese don’t work.

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About a month ago I had never even heard of the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys until my eldest sister Ruth told me about them and not-so-subtly suggested I buy her one. Typically I didn’t even notice this sacred stable of carvings last time but it caught my eye instantly this time and with many people re-creating the three poses I thought I would copy them but with an added twist which can be seen below and will please fans of the ‘Austin Powers‘ films!

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We spent a few hours looking round the shrine which was maybe more to do with Gideon taking so bloody long snapping away in every direction and getting every possible angle. Our ticket entitled us to get entry into a few more temples and shrines so we visited a couple more which were very quiet and nice too though not a patch on the tourist trap of Toshogu. I did enjoy one though for no other reason that it had a hoop throwing game which i was very successful with getting a brace of perfect scores.

Posted in Japan Travel, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

‘Big Red Bus Day’

Posted on March 30, 2007 by tokyofox

This special event started off on the other side of Tokyo Bay in Kachidoki last Sunday. La creme de la creme of teachers…..and myself (9 of us in total) were present to take two groups of kids to Odaiba on a London red double decker bus which is certainly a novel form of transport in these parts and all day we felt a little bit like stars as we were driven round Tokyo attracting much attention.

The idea was letting the students travel on a British institution and having a laugh on the top deck of our new workplace while getting the job done in terms of playing games and promoting the company name.

We started off with a reworking of ‘Old MacDonald’ but substituting ‘farm’ for bus’ (genius eh!) and continued with ‘…and on that bus he had a (teacher name)!’ which left us all slightly embarassed. However, as the song continued we were probably enjoying it far more than some of the kids who were very bemused by it all. Renditions of ‘Heads and Shoulders’, ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ and the inevitable ‘Wheels on the Bus’ followed.

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Once in Odaiba we parked the bus and played games in small groups for about 40 minutes which was not so easy given the small and restricted confines on the top of a bus. My first game was a pelmanism game which involved the kids rolling a dice with colours on each face and the animal cards face-down had colours on them and they then had to individually make the animal noise which the others would guess. As always at any event a lot of improvisation was needed and I had to really stretch this fairly simple game out by slightly changing the rules.

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I didn’t need to go on the second kids bus trip but not wanting to hang out in Kachidoki for two hours I thought I would just sit at the back of the bus and help out a bit with the craft part which was to make a 3D bus. Not a chance though as I got told to play an animal bingo game with the kids involving a spinning wheel which was certainly more interesting than the first game I did.

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Next up was the adult party which was a bit more straightforward and involved drinking beer and mingling with them for a couple of hours which also included a game or two. These included ‘Guess the picture’, ‘Fizz-Buzz’ counting game and a game where teams were given a category and came up with five examples (i.e. 5 tall buildings, 5 rich people, 5 famous Brits etc) which the other teams had to try and guess.

Overall, it was a fun day and nice to get out of the classroom and do something a bit different even if it was on my day off.

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Yasukuni Shrine

Posted on March 30, 2007 by tokyofox

At a bit of a loose end last Friday as part of my three-day holiday I met a friend at Yasukuni Shrine in Kudanshita. Like Meiji Shrine I think that the walk preceding the actual shrine is more interesting beginning with a giant wooden torii gate leading the way through gingko trees and the usual food stalls and a statue of the bloke who founded the Japanese army or something like that.

     

It must have been three years since I visited this place and back then I knew very little about the controversy surrounding it. When former Prime Ministers such as Junichi Koizumi have gone there it has caused uproar as fourteen class A war criminals among the 2.5 million war dead are enshrined here. Most of these protests are from China and Korea who suffered most from Japanese aggression during WWII. No such protests when I visited and nothing too controversial either.

In fact the most controversial thing to happen involved myself daring to take a photo in the Yushukan Museum where photographs are prohibited! This museum is next to the shrine but we only just made the last entry and so had to really rush round in order to see everything which didn’t bother me too much as I was getting a little bored and tired of looking at all the military related stuff.

   
Posted in Japan Life | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Tokyo Daytripper: Little Edo

Posted on March 27, 2007 by tokyofox

In September 2001 I was on a years working holiday visa in Australia and having not done much work, I stopped off in Bundaberg in Queensland to earn a few bob. The only reason any backpacker goes there is to do some farm work and so it was that I spent a couple of weeks working in the field (pun intended!) of snow-peas and sweet potatoes. The type of work that many say is “character building” was actually a really good laugh and it had to be as we worked terribly long days in the heat and earned very little for it!!

The saddest part was that all any of us backpackers talked about in the pub on Friday nights after a hard weeks work was blo*dy peas and potatoes!! Enough to put one off these veggies for life!!

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However, last Wednesday I was kind of re-united with my ‘old friends’ when I visited Kawagoe (30 mins north of Tokyo) which is famous for its sweet potatoes and these have been used for every possible concoction including ice cream, coffee, beer and also udon (thick noodles) which I wanted to try but that particular restaurant was too busy.

Kawagoe is nicknamed ‘Little Edo’ (Edo is the former name of Tokyo) and is also known for its old warehouse style buildings which, along with the landmark ‘toki no kane’ (Clock Tower), are the main sights in the Kurazakuri Street area.

I had been to Kawagoe before so don’t think its that interesting but due to its close proximity to Tokyo and the sunny weather, it was quite nice to walk around the city in a leisurely fashion seeing the aforementioned buildings as well as a couple of temples and a so-called castle.

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Posted in Australasia Travel, Japan Travel, Tokyo Daytripper: | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The New Face Of English Learning In Japan??!!!

Posted on March 22, 2007 by tokyofox

On Monday I was summoned to work a little earlier than usual to do an interview and photoshoot for a Japanese magazine called Keikotomanabu which is for people who want to learn a new skill and they carefully handpicked me as the man to help out their thousands of readers. Or maybe I was just in the right place at the right time in terms of being sat next to my boss when she got the call and being in Shibuya on the day that they wanted to interview a teacher or two!!

Preceedings began with a short interview which was conducted by a rather nervous looking Japanese man and all my answers were relayed to him by a very nice woman. Whether she actually translated what i said i don’t know for sure. I just hope I don’t get misquoted! Unlikely as the typically dull questions were answered by myself in a standard cliched way. The usual stuff like how long had I been in Japan, why did I come to Japan, whats the most rewarding part of the job and what advice would i give to their readers.

Next was the photoshoot. I had thought it would just be a few photos and was quite surprised when I was directed for dozens and dozens of shots which inevitably were the most unrealistic stances and poses ever. This included standing with my hands on my hips in an almost-superhero type manner as well as trying to look intellectual while looking in a dictionary, pointing a pen, waving and holding a fake cheesey smile for what seemed like an eternity. Unfortunately my moment of fame will not be on their website for you to see until late next month but fear not as I will of course send the link when its up there.

Posted in English Teaching | 2 Comments

The Irish Wannabes Just Keep Doublin’ And Dublin!

Posted on March 18, 2007 by tokyofox

St Patrick’s Day was celebrated all around the world yesterday including here in Japan. Not by me though as I’m still bemused as to why it’s so popular! Now don’t get me wrong, I am very fond of Ireland as a country not that my one visit to Dublin for New Years Eve six years ago was much of a cultural trip! I was there with some University pals for the sole reason of just getting p*ssed but I digress slightly.

For some unknown reason I do tend to follow the sporting fortunes of the Irish quite closely even though I don’t possess the slightest hint of Irish blood! It didn’t seem too  different for the footballers, particularly the Jack Charlton era (1986-1995) where a few of the players had very tentative Irish links. David O’Leary’s winning penalty in their first World Cup Finals at Italia ’90 was a great memory for me as was Ray Houghton’s winner against the Italians at USA ’94 (incidentally his winner against England in Euro ’88 was definitely not) and Robbie Keane’s last gasp equaliser against the Germans in Korea in 2002.

On top of this, I also hold a soft spot for the Irish Rugby team and wanted them to win the Six Nations Championship (in the knowledge that England’s mathematical chances of winning it were very slim) which came to a climax yesterday. I was a tad disappointed that they had the title snatched away from them by the French in such a dramatic late fashion. On the other hand, there was good news as their cricket team of underdogs defeated the might of Pakistan at the World Cup in the Caribbean.

Anyway, to finally get to the point (yes, there is one!), I don’t see any reason for celebrating St Paddy’s Day myself. I feel a little sorry for the actual Irish people who have to put up with all the Irish-wannabes, particularly those from New York, wearing a bit of green and a face painted Shamrock and talking about the “craic” and whatever else while using the occasion as a cheap excuse to get drunk. Nothing wrong with getting drunk of course but why do people need an excuse?!!

I find it a little strange that some people celebrate the patron saint of Ireland (who was actually British) but let their own national day pass without notice! For the record I don’t celebrate either St George’s Day or St Patrick’s Day so am I just a miserable git or even a hypocrite given what I earlier said about going to the Irish capital on a drinking holiday!!

Posted in Japan Life, Quirky Japan, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bags Of Waste

Posted on March 11, 2007 by tokyofox

Now I’m certainly no tree-hugging environmentalist but I’ve been brought up to recycle whatever we can and also to re-use things frugally. At an old company it used to break my heart to see the amount of paper that was wasted daily in producing files etc.

One of the big problems in Japan is the fact that around 30 billion plastic bags are used each year. They are given out willy-nilly to you even if you only buy one little item and they are often thrown straight in the bin by customers as soon as they get outside the convenience store. At best, the assistant may ask you if you want a bag. At worst they will put all different items in separate bags with a big bag then used to accommodate all.

When I first came to Japan I remember being immediately shocked when I saw other teachers bringing back McDonalds with a paperbag each for the fries and drink and a plastic bag for the whole lot. Even more waste than usual for a company which has a lot of wastage in terms of cartons and cups etc. Other items like biscuits are also over-packaged with them sometimes coming individually wrapped in a plastic tray inside the outer plastic sheeting.

Japanese culture doesn’t have place for eating in public which may partly explain why so many bags are given out.  Traditionally, purchases in this country have been considered part of the product and they pay for the complete package which in the present day may involve nothing more than just a plaggy bag sealed with a piece of tape.

Given their phone-book sized rulebook for waste disposal it’s a little surprising that the Japanese can’t be more eco-friendly regarding plastic bags especially as I see so many bags go straight in the bin as soon as the customer exits the convenience store with their coffee or whatever.

I mostly decline the bags but then I suffer more waste in terms of the piece of adhesive tape that the shop assistants stick on each individual item supposedly as a proof of purchase but it seems redundant to me as I’m also given a receipt!

Posted in Japan Life | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Lets Get Quizical!

Posted on March 6, 2007 by tokyofox

Three hours, five teachers, fourteen students, three receptionists, six rounds, 30 questions, a joker card, unlimited alcohol and a load of cold chips! All that was part of one of my schools British Pub Quiz Night in Shibuya last Saturday. The joker card could be played at the start of a topic to double the points tally and due to my teams indecisiveness (and certainly not for tactical reasons) we ended up not using it until the last round which unbelievably resulted in us snatching victory right at the death.

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Our win was down to a mixture of good fortune, cheating and the fact that I wrote one of the questions was also a bit of a help! My contributing question was about which Japanese city is twinned with Munich in Germany. The answer is Sapporo in Hokkaido which I know as both cities played host to two great England victories over our footballing rivals from Germany (5-1) and Argentina (1-0 in the 2002 World cup finals). My memory of the other questions is very vague but they included a few more geographical questions, anagrams of famous Japanese people, history, entertainment and so on.

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