Tokyo Daytripper: Tokyo Bay Cruise

Posted on September 17, 2006 by tokyofox

My English school organised for us to go on a ‘Tokyo Bay Cruise‘ last Sunday night. I went on the huge party boat last year but not with my company and the weather back then was fine as it luckily was this year too. A few thousand people crammed on to the boat with very little space as is customary in Tokyo. The boat travelled from Takeshiba down the Sumida-gawa river to the ocean and back going under Rainbow Bridge along the way which seemed to cause great excitement among the Japanese for some reason.

It was nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) for the two hour duration and the great thing was that you never ever had to queue for beers or whatever as the servers just constantly poured drinks into paper cups which were put on the counter for people to just take willy nilly.

This event was also a night when many girls (and some men too) were clad in their traditional yukata (a kind of summer kimono) with their hair up which is a very sophisticated and classy, yet sexy look which just goes to show that you don’t need to be showing lots of flesh to be appealing.

On top of this there was also a stage and dancefloor inside featuring dancing yukata girls strutting their stuff to the cheesiest of disco tunes. Apart from those cr*ppy songs it was a nice way for me to spend my evening having done cover work during the day. With the company discount it cost me 1500 yen which is only about seven or eight quid. A cheap way of getting sozzled amid a setting a little different to usual.

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No Sleep Tonight

Posted on September 12, 2006 by tokyofox

It is often said to be a good idea to follow the local customs when you’re not in your own country. Something along the lines of ‘when in Rome do as many Romans as you can!’

Sleeping seems to be the favourite past-time of the Japanese but they do very little of it in their own homes due to punishing work schedules. It is so so common for Japanese people to sleep on the trains every day and anywhere. It is also not unusual to regularly see people sleeping in restaurants such as McDonalds, their cars by the side of a road and generally in any shops which provides seats. In fact the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno actually has an area for people to rest in comfortable chairs where they inevitably fall into a sleep. Can’t imagine that ever happening at the more popular and bigger British Museum in London!!

Lately, I have been quite tired at times (thats the effect of not doing much I guess!) and have started having naps during breaks between lessons at my schools but not during the lessons of course! I leave that part to the students!!

Of course, falling asleep on the trains can prove costly if you miss your stop though not finacially. On the whole the Japanese people seem to be trained to instinctively wake up at excatly the moment the train pulls into their station. I usually do too but not when I’m drunk and taking an early morning train home. On a couple of occasions I have missed my stop four times which just becomes so frustrating as by that stage I am desparate for my bed.

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Keeping Up Appearances

Posted on September 8, 2006 by tokyofox

No this is not about the BBC comedy of the same name but an observation (with a heavy reliance on generalisations and stereotypes of course!) about the millions of kawaii (cute) Japanese girls for whom it seems appearance is everything. Nothing wrong with that of course but one of the downsides is seeing them putting on their make up in public on the trains. Slapplication and vanity are not problems here whereas if we get caught looking in the mirror back home we get embarrassed and ridiculed for being vain.

Japanese girls spend hours on their make up and of course they look good for it. This is obviously welcome news for us men who get to see so many cute slim girls everyday walking (though wobbling slightly and often dragging their heels) the streets in their delicate, strappy high heels, skirts and cute outfits while more often that not playing with their hair (not a tell tale sign that they fancy you though).

Hopefully I don’t sound too old when I say that appearance comes before practicality. This species of J-girl is one that is very different from the more clued up Japanese girls who you see in the UK or the USA or wherever.

They are obsessed with all things cute, particularly Disney and ‘Hello Kitty’, and dress up in ways which would probably be deemed not suitable in other countries. Maybe another sign that Japan is a safe place where these kawaii girls can dress in a way which would see them get harassed, whistled at and no doubt called sluts elsewhere. Having said that though there are a fair amount of gropers around by all accounts. In the UK girls tend to mostly just dress up to go to a pub or club but here they get dressed up to go out anywhere, particularly to do their favourite pastime of shopping and the temperature seems to have no bearing on whether skirts are worn or not.

Picture club stickers, many accessories hanging from their mobile phones and the high pitched whining voices also characterise the hordes of these fine specimens who certainly brighten up my day.

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A Breath Of Fresh Air

Posted on September 6, 2006 by tokyofox

While walking through Shibuya on Sunday evening a few of us encountered an Oxygen bar. These have been becoming more common of late and so we thought we should sample it and so proceeded to sit in front of bubbling bottles of coloured liquid with tubes up our noses.

oyygen1  oxygen2

It’s supposed to be good for hangovers, help beautify your skin, reduce weight and fatigue, purify blood, increase metabolism and no doubt increase your manhood, make you a nicer person and turn your sh*t into gold!!. Call me sceptical but the only thing that i am sure it did for me was lighten my wallet to the tune of 300 yen for the tube thingy and a further 600 yen for the minimum 10 minutes time.

There were 24 kinds of aromatic liquid of which four were available to each person and you could use and mix them as you wished. I have to say that I did enjoy the novelty factor of it all but don’t think that it benefitted me too much.

oxygen5  oxygen4  untitled  untitled
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Tokyo Daytripper: Ghibli Museum

Posted on September 4, 2006 by tokyofox

Just after I came back to Japan in May 2005 and following the release of anime band Gorillaz’ second album I tried my hand at drawing manga too and even bought a book on the subject. Sadly the novelty wore off quite quickly. In that time though I found out about the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka and finally a year later I got round to visiting this place. One of the reasons it took so long to get my a*se into gear was that tickets had to be purchased in advance due to the popularity of the place.

Ghibli 021 Ghibli 014

I think this place would be great for those with a reasonable interest but with mine long gone I have to say that I didn’t think it was anything really special. The museum colourfully exhibits the process of making animations and we saw an interesting 20 minute anime film on arrival. What I did enjoy and could relate to was the exhibits relating to ‘Wallace and Gromit‘ and ‘Morph’ which was a fairly simple animation which i grew up watching regularly as part of the Childrens BBC ‘Hartbeat’ programme. Very surprised to see this I certainly was.

Ghibli 004 Ghibli 008 Ghibli 020 Ghibli 013
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The Ice-Man Commeth…….As Cool As You Like!

Posted on August 31, 2006 by tokyofox

Took a break from the intense Tokyo summer heat last Friday and went ice-skating in Takadanobaba near where I live. It was maybe 10 years ago when I was at University that I went for the first time (apart from early childhood which I’m too young to remember and I don’t think I could even stand up then!) and I didn’t get cold feet and took to it like a duck to water.

However, having been about half a dozen times since I don’t think I am ever likely to get better. I never really fall on my ar*e and speed is no problem but my style is at times rather unorthodox and far from graceful. Definitely won’t be winning any prizes for dancing on ice!

What is also a little alarming is seeing kids who are only a few years old cruising round the rink at top speeds with ease while doing all kinds of fancy tricks, spins and turns. I guess going backwards on ice for more than a few inches is just something i’ll never achieve a breakthrough with!

One cute little girl of about six was fascinated by the presence of a gaijin like myself and kept looking at me before breaking the erm ice by asking me where I was from. She was desparate to play ‘tig’/’You’re it’ with me and so not wanting to be ice-olated I relented and joined in which was good fun though I did feel a little awkward at times amid worry that the watching adults would give me a cold reception! Now it seems I can’t even get away from ‘entertaining’ kids on my days off.

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Taiwan: My 4-Night Stay in Taipei

Posted on August 22, 2006 by tokyofox

 

Taipei is admittedly one of those places I never really had much interest in visiting but realistic options are fairly limited when you only have a few days available. After my research though I was very much looking forward to the trip and wasn’t disappointed.

Fortunately, I was able to avoid any of the tropical downpours until my last day on the way to the airport. It was bloody hot though with temperatures in the high 30s and, as I was hiking quite a bit, I sweated absolute bucketloads!

I found the people to be very helpful, kind and friendly which is very important when you can’t read or understand anything. English signs aren’t as common as in Japan but the standard of spoken English is certainly higher! One particular woman even lent me her own bicycle in order to see some of the sights in Pinglin which went beyond her call of duty.

Taipei Aug '06 082  Taipei Aug '06 097

I spent my first two nights at the YMCA but it wasn’t so fun to stay there (expensive too) so I moved to a cheaper hostel where I met some really nice Taiwanese people. I also met two American girls at Fulong beach and a Canadian couple in Yangmingshan National Park who gave me some useful advice about where to go and what to do as I didn’t really know what was essential to see as everything is made to sound good in the guide book.

Yangmingshan National Park  Taipei Aug '06 045

I have never seen so many motorised scooters in a country. Absloutely thousands of them and often weaving in and out of the crowds on the paths. Its very common to see a family on the one scooter but to see 5 people (a mother, father and 3 kids) on the one machine was a sight to behold.

I didn’t tend to stay in Taipei city in the day as I thought it would be just like most other asian cities. Instead, I went to the northeast Bitou Cape to do some hiking on day one where I saw some beautiful coastal scenery including sea eroded cliffs.

At the end of the trail, I went snorkelling in the ocean park at Longdong Bay (the name caused amusement for a few minutes!) which was far better than I imagined it would be.

I saw lots of fish and cooled off after a sweaty walk in the heat. Further down the coast I went to a beautiful white sand beach called Fulong.

 

Climbing Mount Chihsing in Yangmingshan National park was on my itinerary for day two and on my third day I went cycling and hiking in Pinglin which is in the sticks and famous for its tea not that I ever really drink too much of it. Don’t let small matters like that stop you from seeing such a place!

Taipei Aug '06 059  Grand Hotel  untitled  untitled  Ximending  Oxford College

My three full days were very busy long days usually starting at 8am and finishing at around 11pm and other highlights included going up the world’s tallest building, seeing the changing of the guards at Martyr’s Shrine and eating lots of nice Taiwanese food from the many night markets. I somehow managed to resist the temptation though to drink snakes blood which was available!

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I Saw Linkin Park, Muse & Arctic Monkeys at Summer Sonic 2006

Posted on August 14, 2006 by tokyofox

For the second year running I went to the Summer Sonic music festival in Chiba where fortunately the predicted rain and thunder held. Those who went to the previous day to see the likes of Metallica and Daft Punk were less fortunate!


I have commented on the differences between the Japanese and English crowds before (wearing towels around the neck, the strange location, no crowd surfing, no sitting on shoulders, cleanliness & patience between songs etc) so there was no culture shock for me this time as I knew what to expect.

The festival starts at 11:00 am which is a couple of hours ahead of most festivals so I gave the early bands a miss as I only really wanted to see three bands. Beforehand I was a little worried that two of these might clash but luckily that was not the case.

This year I was on my own which isn’t as bad as one may think as Summer Sonic is in the city and thus has no festival spirit and atmosphere meaning it is purely about the music. Lying around on the concrete floor in an exhibition centre doesn’t have quite the appeal of its grass counterpart though that didn’t stop many people!

Being alone also meant that I didn’t have to worry about losing anyone when the crowd surged back and forth. However, I did meet up with one of my students and her friend on the way to the festival but we all soon went our separate ways as we wanted to see different bands.

The main stage was at the baseball stadium which I went to a couple of months ago to see Japan’s most popular sport. My Summer Sonic ’06 experience bagan at the other stages indoors at Makuhari Messe which was probably a good idea as there was no chance of topping up my sunburn while I was inside!! I actually thought I was watching We Are Scientists for my first act but I realised afterwards that I was at a different stage and had actually been watching another band!

After that I saw The Kooks and latest British musical press darlings Arctic Monkeys where the crowd did surprise me actually as they went absolutely bananas for them, and I inevitably got stood on many times as I battled for survival.

As the evening came I moved outdoors and walked over the main highway to the stadium’s Main Stage where I met up with a student friend of mine to see the final two bands on the bill.

 

Muse were a band I’ve wanted to see live for a while as I’ve heard great things about their live set, and I wasn’t disappointed as they put in a rocking performance full of energy with the music doing the talking. Quite literally actually as frontman Matt Bellamy never once addressed the audience with the drummer doing that instead which was a little bit strange and different from the norm.

 

Headliners Linkin Park were up next and I only just averted disaster as they entered the fray.

 

Someone behind me trod on the back of my trainer and it came off! I just about managed to slide my foot into it and was able to drag it back. Moments later I could finally put it on properly to great relief. Phew! That was a problem I could have done without as I was already sweating buckets. It was all a far cry from the Glastonbury festivals that I’ve have slummed my way through … from the, erm comfort of my living room!

Click here to read ‘Watching Oasis At Summer Sonic ’05 (2005)’

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Tokyo Daytripper: Almost Non-Stop Queueing At Fuji-Q Highland

Posted on August 13, 2006 by tokyofox

On Thursday I went to Fuji-Q Highland which is in the foreground of Mount Fuji. Having had to sit apart from my old N*va mate Ethan on the bus (Asif arrived only a few minutes before our bus left and subsequently had to get the next bus) we arrived at the theme park at about 10am. The weather was scorching hot for most of the day which was not so good as you practically spend your whole day queueing up for the rides which then only last between 30 and 90 seconds.

However, the three main big blockbuster rides didn’t let us down. “Eejanaika” was a brand new ride which we had to wait three hours to go on and is in the record books as having the most upside-down spins in the world. You ascend this rollercoaster ride backwards at the start before plummeting at a drop of 89 degrees before falling into a spin followed by countless more spins which result in you not having any idea where you’re going. Fantastic stuff!

Fujiku Highland Aug '06 005 Fujiku Highland Aug '06 002
Fujiku Highland Aug '06 001 Fujiku Highland Aug '06 012

Having been to Fuji-Q over two years ago I knew about all the other rides but that obviously didn’t make them any easier to stomach, particularly “Fujiyama” (huge rollercoaster which used to have the worlds biggest drop – 79 metres!) and “Dodonpa” (another jet-coaster which shoots you out horizontally at the start at 172km per hour). That of course is the appeal to the many many people who go to these theme parks.

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Cruising Around Some Of Tokyo’s Tourist Spots

Posted on August 12, 2006 by tokyofox

With not much to do during the first week of my summer holidays I met up with an old friend Izumi and went to Asakusa last Wednesday in the rain. This old downtown area is usually part of most Tokyo visitors itinerary due to the famous Senso-ji Temple and the shopping precinct which leads to it and sells the usual touristy cr*p. Not particularly of interest to me unlike the ‘golden turd’ which is across the river and is part of the Asahi beer building I think.

Unfortunately I nearly forgot about this given that I have been to the area about five times now and so don’t take too much notice of such things. I did manage to snap it from the Suijo-basu (water-bus) though as a 50 minute cruise down the Sumida Gawa (river) to Odaiba followed. A different way to travel through such a concrete jungle like Tokyo but certainly not a great ride scenery-wise.

Asakusa-Odaiba Aug '06 009  sensoji  golden turd  Asakusa-Odaiba Aug '06 042

I went to the Fuji TV studios which didn’t mean too much to me as I never watch Japanese TV but before that, the lookout from the Statue of Liberty replica over towards Rainbow Bridge as the sun set over Tokyo Bay was something new as I had only ever seen it during daytime. To be honest theres not too much of story here but since when has that ever stopped me?!! Anyway, see the view for yourself below.

Asakusa-Odaiba Aug '06 040  Asakusa-Odaiba Aug '06 031  Asakusa-Odaiba Aug '06 046  Asakusa-Odaiba Aug '06 059
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