It only has a few weight machines, 2 different types of bikes and few stair masters, but what else do you need?

Especially at ￥300 a go! About £1.40 at the current exchange rate I think. Not as flash as the Konami ones (equivalent to Fitness First in England I think), but it’ll do. Just come back from a 2 hour stint there and feel fresh and healthy.

p.s. the Kaiser Chiefs are perfect for the gym! Time flew by on the 20km bike ride.

Related posts:

1. Kaiser Chiefs at Big Cat, Osaka Japan

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Post tags: Gym, Kaiser Chiefs

My first gig in Japan, a different experience to London (or anywhere else I think).
First off, the venue is on the 4th floor of a shopping mall, and the doors open at 6 (band on at 7, earlier than I`m used to).
We got there for about 6, and had to queue up, mainly because they let people in, in the order of ticket numbers!
We`d bought our tickets late, so we were 634, 635 so had to wait till everyone else had gone in. I guess this is fairer, but going to gigs isn`t about being fair!, it`s about getting to the gig early enough to stand at the front, or hang out in a pub till the last minute and stand at the back.

Anyway, we wandered in…and had to pay 500Yen at the door for a compulsory drink. Not a problem, but a bit odd.

Then we were greeted with a wall of lockers which everyone proceeded to put their coats and bags in. Nice touch. The other thing that was unusual…the venue was sooo clean! No, dirty Astoria or sticky floors at the Brixton Academy, this place had probably been cleaned just before the gig, not once a year.

Anyway, what about the bands?
Support band were The Cribs, who I`d never heard of, but seemed to have a big fan following, and were from England.
Good, loud punky noise. As soon as they came on, the crowd immediately started moshing! Great fun.
The band were on for a little bit too long, as the songs became repetitive quite quickly, but that didn`t stop the fans (90% japanese with a smattering of Aussies, Yanks and Brits – one of the few gigs I`ve been to that I haven`t had some huge group of blokes blocking my view, Japanese fans are great, as they`re just a little bit smaller than me, so I can get a clear view ).

Then the Kaiser Chiefs came on. Fantastic! Loud, raucous and fun. Great entertainers, especially the lead singer, who got the crowd going with his attempts at Japanese. Everybody loved them, and when he ran through the crowd near the end, and was then surfed back to the stage by the audience, everybody was going hysterical.

One of my top 10 gigs I think, I didn`t stop moshing the whole time, and my girfriend loved it too (even though the moshing was a bit much for her, very lively crowd!).

Finished by about 10, so we went off to an Izakaya and had some great food, and some more beers.

Recommend the Kaiser Chiefs to anyone who likes a good, loud, talented rock band, get your moshing boots on.

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2. The Gym
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