The East End of London

Where is it and what it looks like

  Although there are no exact boundaries, The East End is the area which is located east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. The area is rich with historical and cultural intrests. Let us introduce you some parts of the East End!

The Tower of London
    The tower of London is one of the most famous historical spot in London and sited in the East End. It was built by William I, the Norman Conquest in 11 century. After that, it has been enlarged for hundreds of years by successive kings. From William I to James I except for Elizabeth I lived in this castle. However, Jews had been incarcerated in 1282, it had become a jail rather than castle. Since 14^th century, it was also used as execution ground. You can see venue for public execution in the castle as a memorial now.

The Yeoman Warders, or the Tower’s guards, give regular guided tours starting next to the Middle Tower for free. The audio guide is also available, it costs you £3 with student discount. You can explore yourself in line with some themes such as the Medieval Palace, Imprisonment and Execution and the Crown Jewels. You can easily get to the tower of London by Tube or by bus. The nearest station is Tower Hill. The ticket price is £15.5, if you are a student. Its opening hours is around 9am to 5pm, but please note that it changes depending on the season.

Living arrangement

The East End is a downtown in contrast with the West End. This area has been progressed as an industrial area since the Industrial revolution. Therefore, many low-paid workers lived in this zone. In the late 19^th century, London became a big city with a large population. Hence, poverty groups and immigrants population were moved to the East End. That is why the East End represented for poverty, criminal, disease. As a result, the East End became slam. After WWII, this district was redeveloped as a residential area and a center of new commerce.

If you walk around the East End, you will realize that there is variety of ethnic groups. Also, there are ethnic streets such as Bangladesh. If you would like to see how the Bangladesh Street is or try some Indian food, you should visit there. Like Korean town in Shinokubo, Tokyo, there are some local super markets and restaurants in the East End. So you should compare with them when you look around the East End.

Today’s East End

As you see, the East End is diversity area. It was known the rundown area some time ago, however, the area has been changing dramatically recently. There are many Markets worth visiting.

   Brick Lane Market is located at the northern end of Brick Lane and along Cheshire Street. It operates every Sunday from around 8am to 2pm. From vintage clothes to furniture, you can find almost anything in this Market! Bargain hunters from across London value it greatly. There are also many food stands. This area is famous enclave of Indians and other Asians, so you can choose from such a variety of quality such as Indian, Turkish, Jamaican, Chinese and more! If you don’t know what to eat, the best advice probably just to choose from with the biggest queues.
   Old Spitalfields Market is in near the Liverpool St. Station. Its origin goes back to 17^th Century when Charles I of England gave a license for fruits and vegetables to be sold. Spitalfields Market is now one of London’s top markets. Market Stalls are open Thursday (Antiques & vintage), Friday (Fashion & are) and Sunday (All stalls: Busiest day) from around 9am to 5pm.

   Beside these Markets, there are lots of galleries and shops since many artists and designers have moved to this area. The East End is no longer considered just a Sunday destination it has evolved into one of London's favorite and most vibrant areas.

 

Remember to visit

   When you visit the East End, you may think it is very different from the West End. It’s full of local color and you never get tired of wandering. You will be able to find cheaper food, clothes and stuffs than the West End. That is why the East End is so popular among young people or tourists. Be sure to visit the East End; one of the hottest area in London today!!

editting by Kanae Asari, Maiko Yanagawa.

Banking

Banking

Welcome to the blog of ICC students. You have just started your new life in London. Do you feel it would be exciting, interesting or it might be confusing ? You have a lot of opportunities to pay in your life. Talking about money, most of you hit upon BANKING immediately.

○Why do we recommend banking ?

In your case, bank accounts are convenient because

①   You can deposit and withdraw your cash

②   You can pay by credit cards

③   You can receive your salary by part-time jobs in your bank accounts

and so on.

The most important information for students from foreign countries is

●How to open a bank account

Basically, the process of opening bank accounts in the UK is similar to the case in Japan, but they are not the same. In the UK, it is as follows:

ⅰ: You choose a bank.

ⅱ: You visit the ICC office near from the Regent campus in order                       to prepare necessary documents

ⅲ: You go to the bank with your documents and PASSPORT.

ⅳ: You receive your debit card

ⅰ: If you go to ICC office before you decide which bank account to open, you would not receive necessary documents immediately. The documents are issued separately in accordance with each bank.

There are 5 major banks in London: Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered. Do you know them?

In fact, few students do investments, so there are no big differences in services between major banks. Still, you feel glad to open a bank account as soon as possible. Talking about the length of time for opening, Lloyds is the best. Furthermore, Lloyds is a stone’s throw away from the Regent campus, where you will study English in the first term. ICC office is also nearby here. Do you understand what this means? Lloyds is the most convenient bank for you, taking little time. How about another banks? Take the case of Barclays. Barclays is famous among ICC students for the strict investigation of new customers. You may not be allowed to open an account longer than you expect. Some ICC students had a shocking experience. That is why we recommend Lloyds. We inform you of it.

ⅱ: In the ICC office, you should let the officers know your name and the name of bank. You will be given a necessary document soon. If there is anything unclear, you can ask them. They are well-experienced and put your shoes on. They must be your help!

Address: 16 Little Titchfield Street

         London W1W 7UW

        United Kingdom

Map(Google): http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?hl=ja&tab=wl

ⅲ: Lloyds TSB is nearby the Regent campus. You can go there and talk with them about it. Don’t forget to bring your PASSPORT.

Map(Google):  http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/mapping/map.php?pc=W1B+3BL

It will take only 20 minutes to open an account. You can choose your account type in 3 kinds: classic, silver and gold. Only classic accounts cost nothing for maintaining, so we recommend it.

ⅳ: You can receive your debit card in a week at your address of registry. Some students take it at the reception room of your accommodation, others at your host family house. Then, you can confirm the PIN number and change it if you like.

※  You should keep necessary phone numbers in mind in case you lost your bank card. This is applied to another kinds of cards such as credit card, cash card, insurance for studying abroad and so on.

Phone number of Lloyds TSB : 0800 096 9779

●Services

Lloyds will offer necessary services likewise in Japan. Lloyds is easy to find in London, but we know you do not use every one of them. We will let you know only some convenient ones for you.

Regent Street:

           Tell: 845 300 0033

Old street: Macpherson House, 69 Old Street, London EC1V 9JB

             Tell: 845 300 0000 ‎

            Map(Google) :   http://www.lloydstsb.com/branch_locator/search.asp

 Victoria: 1 Lime Street, London EC3M 6

            Tell: 20 7327 1000 ‎

                Map(Google) :   http://maps.google.co.jp/maps?hl=ja&tab=wl

●Internet Banking

They also have Internet banking services. It is convenient for us to complete the frequent tasks.

1 Your statements

A statement is a report about how much money you spend in a month. You can check your statement on the Internet if you register for it.

2 payments and transfers

You can make payments online, it means paying a person, bill and credit card.

Do you understand the process of opening a bank account and convenient Internet banking through the blog? We actually went through these procedures a few days after arrival and enjoy living without worrying about banking systems, so why don’t you go to the ICC office and a bank tomorrow? Don’t hesitate to ask questions for help, if anything. We hope that this will be a help and you will make it well!!

Yuichi, Shin

What do you do in your free time?

  Welcome to London! London is one of the biggest cities in the world so you can do whatever you want. You don’t have any classes on Saturdays and Sundays at University of Westminster. Even on weekdays, you have a lot of free time after class! The aim of this blog is to give you some useful information about what you can do in your free time.

・Going out drinking

 In London, you will have much opportunity for going out drinking because there are a lot of pubs. 

Do you know pubs? As you can image, pubs are the place people come together and drink. However, they are not just the space for drinking. In this country, pubs are the centre of communication.

Eight out of ten adults think of themselves as pub goers and 15 million people go to a pub at least once a week. Pubs, whose name comes from “Public House”; are very important place for the British public. If you want to experience the British culture and communicate with the British or your friends with alcohol, it may be good for you to go to pubs.

 Next, I’ll tell you how to order alcohol in pubs. For a start, you order drinks and food from the staff. Then you can’t order just beer, because there are so many kinds of beer, so you have to tell the staff what kind of beer you want. After you get them, you pay in cash. It is simple, isn’t it?

In the end, I recommend you to try to go to pubs when the football game is held. There will be full of people watching the game on TV with alcohol and they will be very excited in pubs. You will experience the essence of the pub’s culture.

・Restaurants in London

In London, there are a lot of restaurants so we can eat food from all over the world such as Chinese food, Italian, French, Mexican, Indian, Japanese and of course English food.

University of Westminster is located in central London and it is easy to find a restaurant for lunch after you finish class. There are two main ways to eat: “eat in” and “take away”. If you take away your lunch, you can eat it at the University. It costs about three to ten pounds depending on what you eat. Sandwiches and fish&chips are common lunch in England.

When cerebrating someone’s birthday or something special happened, I recommend you to have dinner at a restaurant! I would like to give you some advice. First, you need to book beforehand. Second, you are supposed to dress up properly. Also you are supposed to pay tips about ten to fifteen percents of the bill.

As I mentioned, you can find many Japanese restaurants here in London! You might miss Japanese food because the British food is really different from Japanese one. So you may feel at home when eat out at a Japanese restaurant.

We hope you will find your favorite restaurant and have a balanced , healthy diet.

・Museums and Galleries

If you like to appreciate art, London is a very attractive city for you. There are a lot of museums and galleries all around London, and most of them is free or offers student discount. They are definitely accessible for you students! You will have plenty time, so how about going to museums and galleries?

I am going to introduce to you two museums and galleries. The most famous and oldest museum is The British Museum. It is the largest museum in the world, so it will take one week or more to look around all of the collections. If you are interested in ancient Egyptian culture and Greek culture, it will be the best museum for you.

 I should mention National Gallery. National Gallery has the greatest collections of Western Europe in the world. Especially, it is famous for the paintings of Renaissance. You can look at masterpieces which you have seen in your art textbook in person. This gallery is worth visiting again and again.

 Above two is free, so you can go as you like without worrying about money. And besides them, there are various kinds of museums and galleries in London. After class, don’t you go to find the favorite one?

I would be very happy if you got more interested in London after you read this blog!

London has mixed culture and it is a very vibrant city so that I believe you would enjoy your life in London. Studying abroad and living in a new country is a life changing experience. Study hard, make many friends and enjoy your free time!

                                                                                              Yukari Hara
                                                                                               Moto Kageyama

Pubs in Britain- Cultural Differences between British Pubs and Japanese Ones

Ikeda Maiko

Kubo Nao

Matsuura Honami

    Do you like drinking? You might know Japanese “Izakaya,” and imagine that British pubs are same styles as that.  However, there are a lot of differences between them.  Our group investigated these differences by heading to a British pub. We propose three topics: drinking styles, the costs of drinks, amusement at pubs.

     Drinking Styles

     Firstly, what differences of styles are there between British pubs and Japanese ones. 

At Live Bar and Baby Diner in Old Street, there are many people sitting on the couches, and drinking on the tables.  They can buy their drinks at the bar.  The feature of this bar is that some small TVs are equipped on the pillars.  At first, we assumed that British people basically enjoy watching sports channels, and they are always standing on the floor on drinking.  However, this bar does not adapt those styles.  In general, Japanese people enjoy chiefly talking on drinking.  At this bar, British people are seemed to enjoy talking as well.  A pub staff at Live Bar and Baby Diner says that British bars basically adopt standing style, people have fun with watching sports, and there are crowded with a lot of people at 5pm to 10pm, so they open from 11am and close time is changed by days. Comparing to it, almost all Japanese bars open at 5pm and close on time.  Considering these facts, it can be revealed that Japanese people tend to drink after working, school, or something, while British people tend to drink as a pastime or a break time.  The pub staff says that British people drink much more than other countries.  That is why they start drinking so earlier time than Japan.

Pubs’ Systems

In Japan, people who want to drink go to “Izakaya”. It is the same as pubs in point of place where people are drinking, but their styles are very different.

First, when do they open? Generally speaking, “Izakaya” opens at 5 pm and closes at 1~5 am depending on each store and they invariably opens and closes on time. On the other hand, pubs in Britain open at 3 pm and close at 1~5 am depending on a day. So, nobody knows when a pub will close today. Also surprisingly, people in Britain drink in even the daytime.

Second, when do customers pay? In Japan, they pay at the end of drinking and eating, but in Britain, they must pay at first in exchange for a drink. If they want another drink, they can call a staff in Japan, while they have to go to a counter in Britain. However, in Britain, you can sit on anywhere you want and move to another seat whenever you want.

Finally, what do they drink? British people like beer more than Japanese. Pubs have many kinds of beers such as Bitter, Lager and Ale. You can say “Beer, please,” in Japan, but you can’t make yourself understood in Britain.

Why don’t you go to a pub and drink beer in the daytime? Remember pay in exchange for a drink!

Things to do in Pubs

Japanese often go to “Izakaya” at night with their friends, colleagues, family. As you know, a lot of Japanese enjoy drinking, just talking to each other in “Izakaya.” They prefer to know each other more deeply. Drinking alcohol makes them relax and open-mind. It is easier way to be close.

Japanese enjoy spending time with close people but do not speak to stranger in “Izakaya.”

Because they prefer staying with close people to going into a new world, they hardly speak to someone who sits on next to. We can see Japanese nationality in “Izakaya.”

How about Pub in Britain? What do you think about it?
In contrast, British is more freedom, in other words, they are individualism. It is typical type of British nationality and a big difference from that of Japanese. You can see British Individualism anywhere in Britain, especially in pub.

 In pub, British enjoy themselves so freely. You can find students enjoying watching football game, old lady drinking beer by herself, a cheerful young man talking to strangers and so on. It is no surprise if you are spoken to by a gentleman who is next to because here is Britain.

     To sum up, comparing to Japanese “Izakaya,” there are many curious differences at British pubs.  As for drinking styles, British people are standing when they are drinking though Japanese are sitting at the table.  In the cost system, British people pay money at every time they order drinks. On the other hand, almost all Japanese “Izakaya” adopt all-you-can-drink system and people pay money on leaving there.  Finally, in things to do at British pubs, people can watch football games on TV, and they often enjoy talking with strangers, but in Japan, they enjoy drinking only among close friends or companions.  Considering these facts, British pubs represent the very British cultures and personality of British people.  British pubs should have much more interesting features than we found, because we could be aware of such many differences within a few hours at Live Bar and Baby Diner.  

Tate Modern

―Introduction

 We introduce you about Tate Modern. It is the most popular modern art gallery in the UK, and the most visited modern art gallery in the world (4.7 million visitors per a year).

―Information about Tate Modern

Tate Modern is Britain’s national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group (together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives and Tate Online).

 Tate Modern’s building was Bankside Power Station before. Actually, the towering structure you can see in the middle of the picture was the smokestack before.

MAP

It is located in the central London. The most nearest tube station is the South Walk (Jubiliee Line). It is 600 meters from the station to Tate Modern, and it takes about 10 minutes’ walk.

We think it is the good location for your sightseeing ! Because you can see the St Paul’s Cathedral on the opposite side of the river Thames, and the Millennium Bridge from Tate Modern. It is a very beautiful view! If you have enough times, you should walk along the river Thames. Then you can reach the Tower Bridge and Tower of London, or London Eye and Big Ben.

                                               Millennium Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral from the Tate Modern

Opening hours :

Sunday – Thursday, 10.00–18.00 (Last admission to special exhibitions at 17.15)

Friday – Saturday, 10.00–22.00 (Last admission to special exhibitions at 21.15)

※Admission is free except for special exhibitions.

―Interactive Art

 Tate Modern is not just the gallery which you can look the art works, but also you can meet so many interactive art works you have never seen. So you should join in it !!

For example, the donating boxes, the short movies and the play room.

You can find some interesting donating boxes in Tate Modern, so you can donate money at any time there. Also, you can enjoy seeing those boxes as intriguing art works, putting money into them. Here is 2 examples !

                                

Once you see the donating boxes, you can not help raising your money !

The 5^th floor is a great place to experience interactive art. Interactive art means that you can contact to art works and it is not just looking.

Especially, play room and short movie. In play room, you enjoy playing a board game. Even if you go to there with child, she has a fantastic time like you.

At the middle part of this floor, you can watch short movie. In short movie, you get a piece of useful information by the artist. For example, how to make art work, a concept of the art work and artist’s thought.　It is very helpful for visitors to understand art work.

―Amazing contemporary Art

Do you like contemporary art? If you do not like it, you should go to Tate Modern and you can find favorite work.

Explain about contemporary art, there are many ways to split the beginning, especially it begins from 1900 (from Monet’s “Water-Lilies” and Picasso’s “Three Dancers” to Jackson Pollock’s “Summertime: Number 9A” and Francis Bacon’s “Study for Portrait on Folding Bed”). In Tate Modern you can see unusual sculptures and pictures.

 In Tate Modern, there are many works of contemporary art. If you go to there, where will you go first? We recommend you to go the level 1 “Turbine Hall”. This hall is the most popular place in Tate Modern and once there is a generator. The Turbine Hall is a great place to start your visit.

Big art works in the Turbine Hall changes every year. In 2000, there was “Maman”. Maman is a big spider ! Now it is in the Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.   

You will find an amazing work by AI WEIWEI. She is one of china’s leading conceptual (like image) artist and an outspoken cultural and social commentator.

 This work’s title is “Sunflower Seeds 2010”. It is a large-scale art more than you imagine. At first sight, you think that is an ordinary concrete road. Secondly, you find millions of sunflower seeds ware laid on the floor. However, realistic millions of sunflower seeds may seem, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact complexly hand-crafted porcelain! What is an amazing work! You may be surprised and tricked.

←“Sunflower Seeds 2010 ”

―Conclusion

 Tate Modern is exciting place even you are not interested in art. If you like art, of course you have a great time.

If you go to Tate Modern, you can go sightseeing and appreciate the art.

Enjoy your artistic life in London!

Works Cited

“The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei.” Modern Tate. Update 12 October 2010. Web.15 April

     2011. < http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm>.