Cheung Ka Fai is well on his way to be come a great and powerful actor/director in the lineage of Robert Redford and Ron Howard. His first attempt at acting and directing was the very decent Hungry Ghost Rituals, a bit jagged at times but a commendable effort with good story-telling skills, I'd rate that a 7/10.

In his second movie, Keeper of The Darkness, it not only confirms his place as a director but as one of the top ones. Ghost stories are easy to make but very hard to make it excellent. For one to be good, it has to have a decent storyline, scaring the shit out of people can be easy with silly shock or sound tactics, but its the untold twists and fears that reside in the minds of the audience that really make for a great movie.

Nick Cheung plays an exorcist who should have died when his mother committed suicide during his teens. At his service is an aspiring protege, Chung (Louis Cheung Kai-chung), and a cute journalist, Ling (Sisley Choi Si-pui), although Fatt already has all the underworld assistance he could use, anyway: since he was a kid, the loner has been sharing a run-down flat with the ghost of a beautiful mistress, Cherr (Amber Kuo Tsai-chieh). Here, I have to say the 3 supporting roles were fantastically played, with large doses of humour injected.

While Nick excelled as a director and he did a pretty decent job in the acting lead ... the scene stealers were all taken by the supporting cast - very competent, plenty of comedic turns and believable. Kudos to Cheung Kai Chung, Amber and in particular Sisley (who had the most difficult role).

Cheung's pacing of the movie, directing of lighting and shadows were excellent. The story telling was lovely, it hooks you and keep you very interested till the very end. What usually lifts a good movie to one that is excellent is how well the director makes us "feel for the main characters" - he did this well, you empathised and sympathised with them.

As a ghost story it is except but its more than that, its a lovely love story as well. A beautiful one that tells of sacrifices beyond one's own lifetime.

Go watch this ... 9.9/10!!!

One of my earliest job was at Nomura Securities in Sydney but I get to travel to Tokyo HQ with clients many times. I know many people have been to Japan, esp Tokyo ... and some are starting to venture into the nicer cities such as Kyoto, Osaka and Sapporo.

When in Tokyo, we tend to do the usual tourist stuff: Disneyland, Shinjuku, Shibuya ... temples, etc...

Here are a few of my favourite things to do whenever in Tokyo:

1) Sumo Tour: Tokyo Tournament & Chanko Dinner Plan (12,700 yen)

Its an amazing, short, 4 hour tour by JapaniCan. If you love Sumo you would be extra happy, even if you do not, its an amazing way to get in touch and experience it firsthand.

Sumo tournaments go around the major cities, they rotate and I think there are 6 tournaments, with Tokyo hosting it twice a year. Each time, its about two weeks long, and you just pick a day, hopefully it coincides with your trip.

http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/F560_/?aff=SEM

STEP 1Choose a Date

Choose a tour departure date from the calendar to continue to the next step.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
27	28	29	30	31	1 ×	2 ×
3 ×	4 ×	5 ×	6 ×	7 ×	8 ×	9 ×
10 ○	11 △	12 ○	13 ○	14 ○	15 ○	16 ○
17 ○	18 ○	19 ○	20 ○	21 ○	22 ○	23 ○
24 ○	25 ×	26 ×	27 ×	28 ×	29 ×	30 ×
31 ×	1	2	3	4	5	6

○…Seats available
△…Few seats available
×…Not available

The tour starts with a gallery tour inside the stadium dedicated to the history and past champs, an eye opener. Then you can go to the mess hall where they serve the exact lunch that Sumo wrestlers have (albeit smaller portion) all day. You then watch the rituals and the fights for about 3 hours, its fun. Then you may join the after competition Chanko dinner (again what the Sumo wrestlers have usually) or opt out.

2) Tokyo Blue Note Jazz

Think of the Frank Sinatra / Dean Martin nightclub days in intimate jazz clubs ... thats Tokyo Blue Note, its classy, very well designed, intimate and romantic. Whenever you are in Tokyo, check out their schedule of events, maybe you can find some artists you'd like to watch. Or just go and be adventurous. It has a set dinner that is pretty good before the music starts. I have managed to catch Pablo Cruise, Roberta Flack and Christopher Cross performing here before.

http://www.bluenote.co.jp/jp/about/

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1 tue.

YOSHIKO KISHINO 20th anniversary tour -Anthology-

Music charge ¥6,000

2 wed.	SAM MOORE -80th Anniversary Celebration-with special guest TORTOISE MATSUMOTO (12.2 wed.), THE GOSPELLERS (12.3 thu.)
3 thu.

Music charge ¥13,500

4 fri.

＜追加公演＞ SAM MOORE -80th Anniversary Celebration- with special guest ROY(THE BAWDIES) (12.4 fri.)

Music charge ¥13,500

5 sat.	TITO JACKSON from JACKSON 5
6 sun.

Music charge ¥9,500

7 mon.

TOKU “Dear Mr. Sinatra” Special Stage

Music charge ¥7,000

8 tue.	THE LEGENDARY COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA directed by SCOTTY BARNHART - A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas -
9 wed.
10 thu.
11 fri.[OFF]
12 sat.

Music charge ¥8,900

13 sun.

HIROSHI TACHI “JUST ONE NIGHT”

Music charge ¥13,000

14 mon.	HIROMI THE TRIO PROJECT featuring Anthony Jackson & Simon Phillips
15 tue.
16 wed.
17 thu.
18 fri.
19 sat.
20 sun.

Music charge ¥8,900

21 mon.	AKIKO WADA -WADASOUL-
22 tue.

Music charge ¥13,000

23 wed.	Christmas Evening with LALAH HATHAWAY
24 thu.
25 fri.

Music charge ¥8,800

26 sat.	INCOGNITO
27 sun.

Music charge ¥9,500

28 mon.

熱帯JAZZ楽団 THE 忘年会LIVE 2015

Music charge ¥7,800

29 tue.	INCOGNITO
30 wed.
31 thu.

Music charge ¥9,500

3) Cafe Anniversaire, Omotesando

Possibly my favourite cafe in Tokyo. Its perched right in the middle of the slope in Omotesando (the new Ginza). That slope alone has the prettiest luxury shops on it. Its a wonderful stroll and its nice to window shop or you could spend literally thousands in 20 minutes. That road alone has a lot of classy diversity and energy about it. Lovely trees and foilage paints the sidewalks.

People walking their beautiful dogs (expensive to keep dogs in Tokyo), its Parisian chic meets gentle classy Tokyo high class.

But its not all snobbery. Right in the middle is Cafe Anniversarie, and itsactually borders the small lane that leads to a quaint romantic church.

"The café is part of a wedding factory, including a faux chapel situated beyond an arched passageway. On certain days, once every hour, newlywed couples pop out of the chapel and promenade through the archway heralded by the café trumpeter and his female accompaniest on the electric organ. Customers at the outside tables are given handbells to ring congratulations to the passing couple."

... and you can witness 2 to 3 weddings parties coming out of the church on weekends within an hour or two. Its kinda fun but Japanese being Japanese, they actually can schedule 3 or 4 weddings within a few hours. So, while drinking coffee, you are greeted by boisterous happy people wishing the couple well, along the lane.

The food and coffee are very good at the cafe, too many dishes to mention. During winter, sit outside as they have nice heaters surrounding the tables, watch the world go by.

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My Tokyo

1) Sumo Tour: Tokyo Tournament & Chanko Dinner Plan (12,700 yen)