Review: Films Set In Japan – Earthquake Bird (2019)

Posted on November 29, 2019 by tokyofox

This Netflix movie was released on the video-on-demand streaming service on November 15th and is based on the novel of the same name (2001) by British author Susanna Jones. It stars Swedish actress Alicia Vikander who’s done films in her native Swedish tongue as well as Danish (‘A Royal Affair‘), English and has now added Japanese to that list. She isn’t fluent as many people have reported but just learned her dialogue which it has to be said is quite lengthy in parts.

 

No surprise really given that she plays a translator in the film and so, with the help of a language coach, she managed to pull it off far better than anyone else has ever managed to do. She should be given a lot of credit but it’s not Continue reading →

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Unique Monkey Temple In Tokyo (+ Other Primate-Related Locations Nearby!)

Posted on November 26, 2019 by tokyofox

After visiting the sandy-red monkey temple in Saitama it got me wondering if there was anything similar of note in Tokyo. It seemed there was and even better was the fact that it was a fairly short bike ride from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre. Sarutahiko Shrine (saru means monkey in Japanese) is one of those small shrines it’s very easy to miss.

 

This video from Peter von Gomm on his YouTube channel gives some information about the shrine. He reports that it’s a branch of Continue reading →

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Australia Filming Locations #10 – The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Posted on November 23, 2019 by tokyofox

This funny feel-good movie sees a transexual and two drag queens go on a road trip across Australia in a silver-painted bus full of sequinned costumes, glitter, shoes and 70’s pop tunes. Bernadette/Ralph (Terence Stamp), Mitzi/Tick (Hugo Weaving), and Felicia/Adam (Guy Pearce) decide to take their drag performance to Alice Springs for a two-week paid gig.

The first location of prominence is The Imperial Erskineville Hotel (below) which appears on 10 minutes as the trio are given a royal send-off as they embark on their journey having purchased a school bus which they christened “Priscilla.”

  

The iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House (below) appear seconds later as they Continue reading →

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Just One Day In Sapporo But It Was A Busy 24 Hours

Posted on November 20, 2019 by tokyofox

Returning to cities on Japan’s main island Honshu is something that will probably happen again and again but the same cannot be said of those cities in Kyushu (the most southerly main island) or Hokkaido (the most northerly main island) which require a bit more time and effort.

Thanks to the Rugby World Cup though I returned to the latter for 24 hours in Sapporo and wanted to make the most of it so crammed a fair amount of stuff into that day. I flew up to New Chitose Airport after work on this particular Saturday evening at the end of September. On arrival at my capsule hotel at 11:30 pm I didn’t go to bed but threw my bag in my locker and immediately went out to meet my friend Mostyn at midnight.

We began with a quick beer at a bar called St John’s Wood where the many Aussie rugby fans (in town for their game earlier in the day against Fiji) had spilled out on to the streets. It was nice to be able to drink in a street-level bar having lived in Tokyo for all these years where bars are often underground or a few floors up a skyscraper building.

By 12:45 am we had gone round the corner to a restaurant called Daruma 6.4 Shop for Genghis Khan BBQ lamb dinner (known in Japanese as Jingisukan) which is one of the dishes Hokkaido is famed for.

 

There are two reasons why this type of Japanese BBQ is called Genghis Khan. Firstly, lamb (or sheep) is not Continue reading →

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Hill Of The Buddha – The Place To Go For The Instagram Generation!

Posted on November 14, 2019 by tokyofox

The main reason for going to this southern Sapporo cemetery was to see the life-size Moai statues but on the 25 minute bus journey my research told me that there was a pretty impressive buddha statue on site too. Nice. Two for the price of one. Not quite actually as there was another pleasant surprise in store at this interesting place.

Makomanai Takino Cemetery is located about 2.5 kilometres from the centre of Sapporo and is accessed by taking the train to Makomanai Subway Station at the end of the Namboku Line. When we arrived at the station we walked around for a bit trying to find where the bus would be going from. What we found was a monument (below) dedicated to the Sapporo 1972 Winter Olympics.

Typically we found that the bus we needed was Continue reading →

Posted in Japan Travel, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Life-Size Moai Statues In Japan! Who Knew!!

Posted on November 11, 2019 by tokyofox

 

Given how remote Easter Island is I think it’s fair to say that I am unlikely to ever visit this Chilean territory. Luckily, Japan has a couple of places with replicas which are far easier to get to. Taiyo Koen (Sun Park) in Himeji has a few sizeable ones but the other place in Continue reading →

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Fun & Excitement Are Never Too Far Away When Watching This Non-League Japanese Team!

Posted on November 8, 2019 by tokyofox

 

The Japanese all seem to love Disney and pretty much every passenger who disembarks at the Maihama Station is heading to “the happiest place on earth.” Not me though!

Continue reading →

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Rugby World Cup Fever Grips Japan For Six Memorable Weeks Of Action

Posted on November 4, 2019 by tokyofox

For the last six weeks the Rugby World Cup (RWC) has never been too far away from TV, online, radio and newspaper headlines. For something which is considered a fairly minor sport in Japan it’s certainly made a splash over here. When the RFU announced 11 years ago that Japan would be hosts in 2019 it was considered a brave decision but one which was needed to take the game to new corners of the globe rather than the usual traditional rugby-playing nations. The streets were adorned with banners and flags advertising the RWC although I’m not sure how much people even notice such things in a city cluttered with advertising

 

For the final last Saturday I was working till 5:50 pm but within minutes of the final lesson ending I was in the nearest bar to see the teams come out on to the field in Yokohama. Sadly it was not to be for Continue reading →

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Doing The Star Wars Tokyo Metro Stamp Rally In One Day……By Bicycle!

Posted on November 2, 2019 by tokyofox

 

When I went to the Star Wars Identities interactive exhibition on it’s opening day in August I picked up a booklet in the station for a stamp rally. I didn’t even look at it for a couple of weeks but when I did I began to formulate a plan.

Stamp rallies are quite common and popular in Japan and I have to say that, even though I have no interest in the stamps part, I do like the idea of going round a load of stations on a mission of sorts. They are not postage stamps by the way but are the ones where you put the stamp handle thing into an ink pad and then print it onto your paper of choice.

I could easily have done this Star Wars one by train but that didn’t really appeal too much and would’ve cost me money as the stamping booths were outside the ticket barriers. The solution Continue reading →

Posted in Cycling, Star Wars | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments