Tokyo.. A city to fall in love with!

I've always wanted to visit Japan. Since I was a little kid, I was always amazed by Japaneses culture and technology.

May 2008, I had a chance to visit one of the most amazing cities I've been to.. Tokyo. Tokyo is a city of life, and warmth. Compared to big cities with population over 12 millions I've been to, people of Tokyo are the most welcoming and generous ones.

Work is sacred in Japan, almost all Japanese I've met are perfectionists. when they wrap a gift, they put their hearts in that as much as a rocket scientist would put his heart in building his rocket. So no matter how small your job is, in Japan you have to do your best to make it perfect, and.. (to my surprise too) they don't take tips!! its not a known system in Japan.. two times I had to run after ladies making our rooms to tip them, and they would refuse as if my tip is an insult.. in there you have to BEG them to take the tip hehe.. but some workers in the hotel know are familiar with foreigners would accept it.. so they actually do not serve you for the purpose of the tip, but they do that because its their job.

Japanese are kinda religious, and I had the chance to visit one big temple in Tokyo (and I bought a lovely kimono from the market around it) before Shintos go into the temple they'd wash their faces and hands, and then the would go to a certain place to smell the burned scent.. after going inside the temple, they would clap their hands twice, when my sister asked about it, a lady told her that they clap to have the attention of the sacred god. Of course being a Muslim, I only believe in one God that is Allah. I still respect their freedom of choice to worship millions of gods.

Unfortunately I couldn't see the sacred statue, because it was very very sacred to the point they cover it with a long curtain. The temple in general was beautifully structured, and the carvings on the walls and poles were amazing to. Outside the temple there series of mini bulletin boards, on them drawn the story of their god of this temple.. the drawings were nice.

Food in Japan was a bit new to me. Sushi wasn't bad, I liked a very nice food which is a small ball of rice covered with raw salmon piece. To my surprise, raw fish doesn't taste raw.. it tastes salty and kinda cooked, it was amazing!

On the right, there is a picture of Onigiri, a famous Japanese snack made of rice balls with different flavor in the middle, this one was my first Onigiri, and it had tuna fish in the middle.. was very tasty.

Japanese are very shy people, somehow they force you to respect their life style and culture. I made a friend over there, a Japanese lady who have been to Egypt before and was very happy to see Arabian people like ourselves hehe.

I couldn't see sakura blossoms :( they only blossom end of march beginning of April.. I'll keep that in mind next time I visit Japan.. I really really really wanted to see them :( But well, I saw the empire's garden, actually was living next to it.. so yeah yeah.. I can humbly say I was the empire's neighbor for a week or so LOL and the wooden gate of the palace is 400 years old with that age Tokyo (its old name was Edo) is considered a NEW city in Japan.

I would love to tell you the story our tour guide told us about the empire and the samurai.. maybe I'll leave that for another time.. this is already a very long post..

Anyway, I had a wonderful time, and fulfilled my dream in visiting Japan.. I hope all your dreams would come true.. along with my other dreams too hehe :)