Tokyo Fox (東京狐)

Given that they don't celebrate it or really care about it I decided to almost bypass any Christmas chat with adult students this year. Instead, I did a Christmas song with many students (gap-fill or lyrical jigsaw listening exercises) and these were all recycled from last years Christmas lessons (John Lennon & Yoko Ono and Band Aid) with the addition of Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' for one student who had mentioned the week before that she liked to sing it in karaoke.

A lot more effort was put into my kids lessons though I did limit my appearances as Father Christmas this year to just a couple of lessons. A few new flashcards were added to the ones that have been serving me well the last couple of years. Magnetic fishing for the flashcard words, throwing a plastic Santa in to a box to teach prepositions of place, stick the eyes and nose on the snowman (whilst blindfolded), slap, guess the missing card and preposition drawing were a few of the games that I used with all kids and a few others were used for others depending on their level. The chocolate pooping reindeer, Christmas music, Santa hats and Christmas party snack-bags all added to the lessons being a success even if I do say so myself!

Shinjuku played host to my company's Christmas party last Saturday night which was attended by around 100 students from about five schools. A couple of jumbo sized gin and tonic's beforehand maybe wasn't the best preparation as I was buzzing on arrival and to be honest most of the party passed me by without much notice from there on. I didn't get to eat too much food, didn't really do much for the two games (one was for students to guess the mystery Santa's on a piece of paper and I didn't even notice the game of pin the beard on Santa or near equivalent) and had to go on stage at short notice to perform the role of emergency Father Christmas giving out a sack of presents to the winning team.

After the party many of us went to find a new bar but the party of teachers, receptionists and teachers was a bit too big for one place so inevitably we split up into two smaller groups. I wasn't planning to stay out all night but ended up passing the point of no return in terms of missing my last train home. Shortly after that a fair few people started to leave which got me worried that I was gonna be left alone to twiddle my thumbs for a few hours before the first train. As it was, four others stayed (or had to stay!) and we went to karaoke purely to kill time for a couple of hours. Having not consumed so much in the hours before I then was somehow rejuvenated and managed to drink a fair few more beers. Even more incredibly was the fact that I was feeling almost fine on the Sunday.

 

It took me a fair while to get round to making it but at the end of November I finally finished it and got it up on youtube for the world to see! It's not exactly setting the world alight but I am quite proud of it.

  

 

At the end of September I not only left Tokiwadai school but I also departed from Narimasu school having been there since January 2006. I didn't really want to leave but changes in the school districts meant I had no choice even though I lived quite close. However, two months on and I am now back there albeit only for a couple of hours on Wednesday evenings as part of a split-shift with another nearby school. To be honest, its a pain in the ar*e really as I am now working the maximum hours while also having to travel between two schools.

Having said that, my first day back in Narimasu was fortunate as I, along with my girlfriend, had arranged to meet up with my former evening class for the usual mix of drinks and food which can be seen in the first photo below. The next photo is from my last lesson with Yoshihiko and Kenta (where we played Star Wars Top Trumps as part of a lesson on comparatives and superlatives) and the one under that is from the end of May when Mami left our group.

Many years ago I remember hearing about a survey of famous Japanese conducted somewhere in the western world. I think Jackie Chan was in this list even though he's not even Japanese and at the top of the most recognisable Japanese people was Godzilla which just goes to show how so few Japanese people have made it really big overseas!

My first encounter of Godzilla was in its guise as the fire breathing 1980's cartoon and I saw the 1998 Godzilla remake before the 1954 original which featured one of the most blatant examples of not-quite finishing the movie and leaving it open to a sequel or ten. The scientist is left on board at the end worrying that it may not be the end of these monsters if nuclear testing isn't stopped. Little did he know that the saga would still be limping on 55 years later!

To be honest I wasn't a fan of either the original or the re-make but there's no denying that its not a legendary monster. Odo Island was the fictional location used in the original which obviously can't be visited! However, I have recently visited two locations which featured in the 1954 version with these being the Wako Department store clock tower in Ginza and the National Diet Building (Japan's Parliament) which is on screen for all of about one second!

Nearby Hibiya is home to a small Godzilla statue located near the Toho studios which produced the Godzilla franchise. Everyone always says how small it is but were people really expecting to see a lifesize replica?!

 

I only saw the 2006 film Babel last year for the first time having picked up a cheap copy in Thailand and really liked the story and the idea of how the three stories on the three different continents intertwined with one another.

My friend Michael even showed me the park where a fairly lengthy scene was filmed with Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) and her deaf mates meeting some guys and splashing around having fun in the water fountains before moving on to a club. In reality it is a fairly bare park located beneath an overpass in Nishi Azabu. It may sound strange but parks in Japan rarely seem to have grass and are often just a small open concrete area amid some dangerous roads. This photo shows the tunnel entrance to the park which the girls walked through to meet the boys.

Of course the main Japan location used in Babel was J-Pop Cafe on the 7th floor of a building in Shibuya. However, when we went there, there was a special event happening so we couldn't just go in without paying an unwanted amount of money on an entrance fee. I'm not so sure about it but it seems that this place is not such a schoolkid hangout as seen in the film but is instead a bit more sophisticated. It appeared that way but what the hell do I really know when I only saw a bit of the place which is actually divided into three areas!

 

This film wasn't so much as made in Tokyo but 'Gonpachi' restaurant in Nishi-Azabu did serve as Quentin Tarantino's inspiration for the 'House of Blue Leaves' (see first two screenshot photos) in 'Kill Bill' and so at the end of October I made the effort to visit it for a spot of lunch.

I first watched 'Kill Bill' back in 2004 and didn't think too much of it to be honest but maybe that was due to a lot of it being in Japanese and there was consequently no need for those parts to be subtitled here. However, to get me in the mood for my visit to 'Gonpachi' I watched it again and found it a whole lot more enjoyable which was no doubt down to the anticipation of my dining there the following day.

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As for the restaurant itself it was a very nice, cavernous, rustic-themed place with a good lunch menu deal which Michael and I took advantage of although we did have to get there at 11.30am to ensure getting a seat in this popular restaurant which soon filled up on our arrival. My taste is definitely not as sensitive as the Japanese so couldn't tell the difference between my hirekatsu don and regular katsudon (a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, and condiments) at other places but the drinks, salad and other extras made it all a good deal and it was actually nice to try a new place.

 

'Lost In Translation' came out not long after I came to Japan the first time and though I didn't think too much of the actual story I quite enjoyed it simply for the fact that it was filmed in what was to become my new home. I was more surprised about how many people with no affinity to Japan thought the movie was great. I guess I am just not the arty-farty type! Over the course of two separate days my friend Michael and I went to the following locations which were chosen and used by director Sofia Coppola for the film:

* The Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku was where the characters Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johanson) were staying and the 52nd floor is the New York bar where a fair few scenes were filmed. We went up to this bar for a quick peek but didn't stay as we knew for sure that it would cost an arm and a leg to go inside.

* Kogenji Temple is a tiny temple 20 minutes walk from the centre of Shinjuku and was visited by Charlotte in the rain for a few brief moments in the film. When we visited it wasn't anywhere near as tranquil and spiritual as in the movie where the moment was further aided by the soundtrack.

* Shabuzen is a shabu-shabu restaurant under the Creston Hotel in Shibuya and was where Bob and Charlotte were shocked by the idea that they actually had to cook the meat themselves which to be honest is still not something I like as when I go out to eat I don't want to have to cook. Japanese homes are so small that entertaining guests is not so possible so they like to go out and cook the thin slices of beef and vegetables themselves. Maybe Michael has been here too long as he went for the shabu-shabu deal while I had a late change of heart and plumped for the unagidon (grilled eel in a sweet sauce on a bed of rice in a bowl) set instead which was OK but probably not worth the extra cost which I had to pay for the privelege for eating in surroundings far more sophisticated than I am used to. 

* Air is a nightclub for Tokyo hipsters in Daikanyama and was where Bob & Charlotte partied with some Japanese friends amid oversized balloons with a film of fireworks projected onto them. When we found this place there was nothing more than a door with a board outside detailing the club's forthcoming events.

* Ichikan is a small and hard-to-find sushi restaurant in Daikanyama. This is no cheap kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant but is actually of high cost. With the cheapest course being 6000 yen (40 quid), and having eaten earlier at Shabuzen, we decided to not bother going in which was a shame but there is a limit to my research on a film that I'm not that ar*ed about!!

* A.P.C. is an underground clothing store in Harajuku which was used for the films strip club scene. By day, its one of those so-called fashionable stores where the designer trainers, t-shirts and so on are minimal (I'm talking only three t-shirts on one rail!) and given a lot of space and this is the only part of the film that was 'faked' as all the other locations played true in the movie.

It may be one of the world's major cities but try to think of international movies filmed in Tokyo and you can probably only come up with a few. Some of them were probably not even filmed here and instead were made in a studio in America or wherever.

Having enjoyed checking out the Star Wars and Roman Holiday filming locations in Tunisia and Italy in August I have maybe stumbled upon a new hobby. Hopefully, I will visit many more movie locations in the future but for now I have been trawling my way round some of the ones here in Tokyo.

One of the first major international films to use Japan's capital as a backdrop was the 1967 James Bond film 'You Only Live Twice' starring Sean Connery. Its fair to say that it wasn't anywhere as exciting as when Ethan and I went to James Bond island near Phuket in Thailand but I still enjoyed trying to line up the camera to copy the brief shots from the film. I guess I am easily pleased as the New Otani Hotel in Akasaka-Mitsuke only played the part of Osato Chemicals exterior for a few brief moments. I also combined this easy trip with a visit to the small, but peaceful hotel gardens which featured in a local listings magazine recently and are free to all those wishing to take a break from the concrete jungle.

Also used in 'You Only Live Twice' was Himeji castle which I visited on a day trip from Osaka a few years ago when I spent the festive period in Japan's second city.