Tokyo skyscraper district

Tokyo skyscraper district located in the West of Shinjuku station and was the home to many Tokyo’s tallest buildings. It was amazing and the most busy area of Tokyo where located the building of most powerful companies in Tokyo. Coming here, many people could admire the architecture of tall buildings as well as a perfect landscape, road and subway design.

Washington Shinjuku hotel was one of the tall buildings in the center of the district with 25 floors and a basement of shops, restaurants, convenient stores and subways. While staying in the hotel, I had chances to see the skyscraper district day and night and to visit it whenever I wanted. While there were a lot of people working in this district, it was not a noisy area. In contrast, the district was safe, peaceful, well-organized and had no traffic jams. This was because the district was accessible from a complex subway system that links with all directions. There were not many people walking on the street day and night. There were normally taxis, buses, and transportation vehicles on the five-level streets surrounded the district.

The most important building in the district was Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office (in Japanese it is called Tocho 都庁) which was in front of Washington Shinjuku hotel. Tocho was a twin tower of 243m tall surrounded by many less tall buildings to make a complex of the offices and the assembly hall of Tokyo’s metropolitan government. There were two observatories in each tower at 45th floor. The observatories were open from 9.30 am until 11.00pm. The entrance of the observatories was free to public. However, there was a control of arms by the police before the elevators. The observatories had several transparent glass windows around the tower where visitors could observe Tokyo from the height of about 200m. If it was a clear day, visitors could see the Mont Fuji. There was a pizza restaurant and a souvenir shop in the observatory of the northern tower. A lot of visitors came a day to admire Tokyo day and night. They were from all over the world.

Surrounded Tocho were impressive buildings owned by banks, insurance companies, and other Japanese multi-national companies, luxury hotels and shopping malls. Among them were Hilton hotel, Hyatt hotel, Shinjuku central building, Nomura building, KDDI building, NS building, Keio Plaza, I-land Tower, I-Town Square, Shinjuku Park Tower, Mitsui building, Sompo Japan building, Sumitomo building, NTT building, L-tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishi-shinjuku) . These building had more than 45 floors and restaurants on the top. Each building had its own design and architecture of modern Japanese construction. Here, there were buildings of great anti-seism designs. Most buildings could resist to strong quakes.

Eating at a skyscraper restaurant at night or during the day was a fantastic experience. On July 1, 2007, I had a lunch at Duke restaurant (http://www.nomura-shop.com/restaurant/duke.html) on the 50th floor of Nomura building with my professor of Business Policy and a friend from Myanmar. We had Asahi beers and Japanese food. We enjoyed so much talking about how to start up a business and many other things about Japan while admiring Tokyo from the 50th floor. We saw air planes and helicopters on the sky. We saw people appearing and disappearing as sand particles moving on the ground. It was a beautiful day so we could see Tokyo Tower, the suburbs of Tokyo and the train network like a cobweb around Tokyo. It was a wonderful lunch.

As my hotel was in front of Tocho, I visited it whenever I wanted: daytime, nighttime, at weekends, at weekdays, on a nice day and on a rainy day. I normally went to the northern observatory to watch Tokyo. To me, watching busy Tokyo was an excellent way to relax. I had an amazing evening watching a heavy rain falling in the northern observatory. I saw rain drops falling down at high speed like many arrows come to a shield. I felt wet. Well it was not true. I remembered my childhood favorite: bathing in the rain. Suddenly, I recalled my hectic childhood. I’d loved the rain so much that whenever it had rained, I had come out and played and bathed in the rain. Rain drops had washed my body, my clothes, my hands and my foot so I had not had to bath before going to bed. It had been a stupid idea but I’d loved it so much. At least, I had done something different from my friends of the same age. Tocho became a place where I frequented alone or with friends. It was an entertainment place to me.

Shopping in subways of the skyscraper district was an excellent experience. There were a lot of small shops along all subways. I could shop 12 hours a day. There were lots of items such as clothes, perfumes, jewelries, shoes, handbags, make-ups, household products, cosmetics, decorative items, books, magazines, electronic products etc. When I felt hungry, I stopped at a rapid restaurant and took a lunch. When I was tired, I stopped at a vending machine and bought water or energized drinks. I could spend days and days shopping at underground shops. Light, music, people, convenience in subways lured me. I did not feel bored with shopping there. However, I did not buy much. I shopped to know what was on the market and what was different from my country. I shopped to understand Japanese customer behavior and trend. I shopped to learned how to sell and how to attract consumers. It was a part of my MBA program.

I loved this skyscraper district that had been constructed in 35 years starting from 1970. It was the face of Tokyo centering business, shopping and entertainment. It revealed the capacity of Japan to be the world’ leading construction technology. It was the modern life of Tokyo.

Washington Shinjuku hotel - last days

I returned to visit the hotel in March 2007 with my husband. I showed him my room and all convenient services. I even showed him the microwave oven I used to heat rice each weekend (I had not cooked at weekends). He was surprised about the convenience of the hotel that he had never seen in his country.

My last stay in the hotel was from June 28, 2007 to July 2, 2007. During my last days in Japan, I returned to the place where I started an adventure and a discovery of Japan. However, I could not stay in the same room, my “home in Tokyo”. I stayed on the 8th floor in a smaller room. There was no writing table. All other things in the room were the same except the red color of the carpet. However, there were some changes. I could watch CNN and many other English channels. But I did not need to watch English channels because I now could understand Japanese TV. The pyjamas had a new design and looked much softer and more beautiful. The LAN connection was automatic and much more rapid than in 2005. The hotel made a renovation in 2007 to increase the service level and make the hotel more comfortable for foreigners. I was happy to profit all such good services.

I did not decorate my room because I stayed only 4 days. I tried to keep all my habits here such as cooking meals in the room, having a bath in a very hot water (45oC), using microwave oven at the first floor. However, my feeling was not the same as I was hurried to go back to my families in Vietnam and in France. The hotel room was not my “home in Tokyo” but was just a hotel room. I went out the whole day and came back to my room to sleep. I was so busy to visit again Tokyo, to meet with friends and to do shopping.


Before leaving the hotel, I wanted to take something as a souvenir of the hotel that I could keep with me. I asked a cleaning woman whether I could keep a pyjamas with me when I left the hotel. Knowing that I had stayed quite long in the hotel, she told me that I could keep it and she suggested me to take a shower towel where the word “Shinjuku Washington hotel” was printed, and a pair of sleepers. She said that those things had not been free to take away but had been included in the room fees. She also said that by keeping these things I would always recall my life in Tokyo. So I took a long, well-designed, one-piece white pyjamas, white shower towel and white sleepers. Today, I still keep them with me and I have never worn them. They are a part of my beautiful life in Tokyo.

I left Washington Shinjuku hotel at 7.00am July 2, 2007. It was a rainy morning too. Sitting on the bus to Narita airport, I watched the hotel disappearing in the cloud. My tears fell down discretely. I suddenly remembered a saying of a Vietnamese writer “When we stay, it is just a place. When we leave, it becomes our soul”. Many souvenirs of my room 615 flashed in my mind. The lyric and music of the song “La neige au Sahara” that I had listened every evening in the room 615 came to my mind. This was the song of my “home in Tokyo”.

Si le désert est le seul remède à tes doutes
Femme de soleil, je serai ta route
Et si la soif nous brûle, je prierai tant qu’il faudra
Pour que tombe la neige au Sahara

Dis-moi si je peux couvrir tes épaules
De voiles d’or et d’argent
Quand la nuit fera tourner ta boussole
Vers les regrets froids des amants

Perdu dans le désert

Si la poussière emporte tes rêves de lumière
Je serai ta lune, ton repère
Et si le soleil nous brûle, je prierai qui tu voudras
Pour que tombe la neige au Sahara

Si le désert est le seul remède à tes doutes
Femme de soleil, je serai ta route
Et si la soif nous brûle, je prierai tant qu’il faudra
Pour que tombe la neige au Sahara…………….


This was the end of an active life in Japan. A new life will begin without this hotel room. I knew. However, it had become my soul that would follow me in my life. Goodbye my “home in Tokyo”. Goodbye Japan. See you next time.

Life goes on. My hotel room always exists. I hope that no earthquake can damage it so my “home in Tokyo” will be forever.

Washington Shinjuku hotel - early days

This is one of the most famous hotels in the heart of Tokyo. There is a beautiful and the busiest subway from Shinjuku station to the hotel that witnessed my first trouble days and my last wonderful days in Japan. I love it so much.

Landed at Narita airport at 5 am, July 1st, 2005, I went directly to Washington Shinjuku hotel on a bus organized by the staff of JICE Tokyo. It took about two hours to reach the hotel so I had time to watch Tokyo in the morning. It was a rainy morning. The sky was covered by a thick cloud. A long country side, I saw houses and buildings covered a half by the cloud. So I said to myself “wait a bit, Tokyo is wonderful”. The bus went to the center of Tokyo. I saw five layers of roads under me, buildings after buildings, skyscrapers after skyscrapers. Well, I had never seen such a big city before. However, I was disappointed by the grey color of all buildings I saw. I had imagined that Tokyo is luminous with many bright and lively colors of buildings that evoke the dynamism and energy of the second biggest city in the world. Later, I learned that due to frequent earthquakes, all buildings are built in a way they can resist to quakes up to 10 degree Richter and therefore they have grey colors. (I don’t know whether it’s true).

I arrived at hotel at 10 am. There were six elevators. Each can carry twenty persons. Well, a thing I had never seen before! After receiving my room key, which is a magnetic card, I went to my room in the 6th floor. The room 615. I opened the door and put my three big travel bags in the room. I turned on the light and looked over the room. First shock: the room was so small that I did not have space to arrange my things. This was a 9-square-meter room with a single bed, a tiny writing table, a small window, a small TV and a small chair. I was completely disappointed. I did not have any space to practice Yoga in the morning (I could not do Yoga in the bed as the rule). Now I went to have a look at the bathroom. Second shock: the bathtub was so small (0,8m long and 0,6m wide). ‘How can I have a bath in such a small stuff?’ Next to the bathtub were a small WC and a tiny wash basin. I bumped my head, my hands and my knees against all things in the bathroom. “What’s a hell here”. I used to stay in four-star hotels in Vietnam with luxury rooms. I could not imagine how my life would be in this small room during the next three coming months. “Tokyo is one of the richest cities in the world. Why hotel rooms are so small and uncomfortable like this one?” I called my friends who stay in rooms nearby. Their rooms were the same. Even two friends had the rooms smaller than mine. Well, I stopped to claim a bigger room and ended up with the idea that Tokyo was expensive so hotel rooms were small.

After having a bath, I walked around the hotel to discover it. The reception was on the third floor. There were 5 computers where internet access is available at 100 Yen (13500VND) per 5 minutes. To me, this tariff was extremely expensive because we live on 1USD per day in Vietnam. I paid 200 Yen to send 2 emails of a line each to my family and my boyfriend (I could not use the Japanese keyboard which is one hundred percent different from the US keyboard). I went to the 25th floor. My ears were hurt by air pressure. There were a coffee lounge Bonjour, a bar and a dining room where people can enjoy around a cup of coffee or a meal while admiring Tokyo at night. On the second floor, there were a tatami room (Japanese traditional restaurant), small shops, Familymart shop (one of Japan’s leading 24/24 retail chains called convenient stores), a copy machine, several cash dispensers of Mitsubishi bank, four microwave ovens, several telephone cabins. On the first floor, there were two hotel entrances where two receptionists in uniform bent 45 degrees to greet customers, a tourism office, waiting rooms, luggage rooms, washing machines, many artificial flowers. In the basement, there were five restaurants, a small concert hall, a spa, a hair salon, a massage room. It seemed that life was convenient here as almost all necessary services were provided at the hotel.

It was lunch time. I looked around all restaurants to find the cheapest one but I failed. All restaurants offered the same price of a lunch set: 1000 Yen (140,000VDN or 9USD). I could not take lunch then. I paid maximum 10,000VND per lunch in Hanoi and minimum 5,000VND. I was not ready to pay ten times higher to have a lunch as my thinking was still based on Vietnamese currency. I was shocked. I hesitated for about 30 minutes. Until was I so hungry that I decided to have a lunch at a small restaurant. About twenty people queued up so I waited one hour to be served. I took a lunch set of rice, sauté beef, Japanese soup, vegetables and Japanese pickles. The lunch was delicious. I was surprised when reading the ticket. A part from classic information (of a restaurant ticket), the energy of the lunch set was printed. My lunch set had 700 calories. My body needed 1200 calories a day. Therefore, I could know that I should choose a dinner set of 500 calories that day. Well, this was an exciting thing. I had traveled to developed countries like France, Switzerland, Singapore but no restaurant ticket had had such information. I thought that life was so much more convenient in Japan.

In the afternoon, I started discovering the vicinity of Shinjuku Washington hotel. I walked along the subway until a gigantic shopping mall named Odakyu where crowds of young people and shoppers covered all space. I got lost among them. I did not understand where to go to so I decided to come back to the hotel and ask for a city map. I walked 6km back to the hotel and passed many luminous shops and restaurants. I ended up with going up a stair and recognized that I was just in front of the hotel. The shops and restaurants I just saw were all underground. What a great thing! I perceived that the Tokyo Metropolitan Building was just in front of the hotel and the NS Building which has 45 floors was at the right. I was happy to stay in the Skyscraper District, the business center of Tokyo.

I stayed in Shinjuku Washington hotel from July 1, 2005 to September 15, 2005. As long as I stayed, I got familiar with my small room and considered it as my home in Tokyo. I no longer bumped against the door of the bathroom or bathtub. Instead, I could put a rice cooker in the bathroom. Cooking was prohibited in the hotel room. The smoke detector in the room could detect a small amount of smoke. Therefore, I decided to cook rice in the bathroom in order to avoid the smoke or steam in the main room. I did not want to get troubles with the hotel by violating the rule. I cooked meat, fish and vegetables in the room on a hotplate. Don’t laugh. I had no choice but to cook in my room to save money on food expenses. As I said before, I could not afford to buy food while spending ten times higher than in my country. Moreover, cooking was a great pleasure and a chance to get used to Japanese cuisine.

My days in Tokyo were quite busy. I got up at 7h30 in the morning. Then, I prepared a lunch box which included rice and meat or fish cooked yesterday evening and vegetables cooked this morning. I had a simple breakfast, which was a small bowl of rice with some meat. I put books, notebooks, the lunch box and a bottle of water in a big backpack then quitted my room. I verified three times my room key before leaving to make sure that I had not leave the key in the room. I made a lot of attention to do this because I had paid three times to get new room keys. I walked very fast to Shinjuku station (10 minutes), took metro in Yamanote line, platform 13 to Takadanobaba station (5 minutes). I walked again 30 minutes to arrive at Waseda University where Japanese courses started at 9.00 am. I stayed at university until 4.00pm. On the way to go home, I did shopping at a small supermarket where I found almost all ingredients to cook Japanese food. I normally came to the hotel at 5.00pm. Being too tired of the day, I took a pause. Then, I cooked dinner, watched news in Japanese (there was no CNN or any English channel), did homework and went for a small walk around the hotel. If my boyfriend was online, I chatted with him until midnight. I went to bed and dreamt….

Every Friday and Saturday night, I went to Shinjuku station. Unknown Japanese music bands and foreign singers went to sing at Shinjuku station and sell their albums. There were normally about ten groups each night. I was very impressed by a Peruvian group who played their traditional music instruments and sang songs in Peruvian language. However, I had never bought a CD. I preferred listen to live music and take it as a part of life in Tokyo. A part from music, I walked around the station to watch people ins and outs. It was impressive that a lot of people stayed there until midnight. They were of all ages, all education levels, and all professions. There were several male and female future tellers who sat behind small lamps waiting for clients. I saw many Japanese people, couple or celebrate, ask the tellers to say about their future. Some were happy and the others were not after short discussions with the tellers. I was curious. I had never believed in future tellers as I believe only in myself. I desperately wanted to make a trial. However, I did not speak well Japanese. So I did not make it. What I had not believed before was that many Japanese people believe in future tellers. I had never imagined that people in a well-developed country like Japan seek to comfort their mind in asking future tellers. Now, I understood that people everywhere in the world need to have a peaceful mind whether they go to the church in Western countries, ask future tellers in Asian countries of believe in God.

I went to visit many places in Tokyo at weekends. I tried my best to discover and understand the country. I did not mind to pay for transportation costs. At first, I visited some places like Tokyo Disney Land, Harajuku, Akihabara with my Vietnamese friends. When I got used to Tokyo’s metro system and I spoke better Japanese, I often went alone. The site web http://www.hyperdia.com helped me to find metro stations, metro lines, times and costs. I took notes before going so I did not get lost. However, I often asked Japanese for direction or advise in order to practice Japanese. All people I encountered were very kind and helpful. They gave me complete information about restaurants, metro timetables, foods and many other things. This practice sped up my integration to the Japanese society.

I often made decorations in my room. I bought an artificial rose and many pins. I put the rose at the right corner of the room, near the window. I printed out my mottos, my life objectives and my principles in A4 papers and clipped them on the walls. A French friend often sent me flowers to encourage me work hard and not to miss my family. I often put flowers in front of the window that I had never opened. I laid my family photos on the writing table. I always had fresh flowers in my room. When I came “home”, the smell of flowers gave me a good feeling and energy after a rude day. I loved my room and tried to make it a wonderful place to live.

Sunday afternoon, July 25, 2005. I was doing my Japanese homework. Suddenly I felt the writing table tremble. Then, it shook violently. The rose felt down. The photos felt down. Papers shook on the table. I could not write. My chair shook abruptly. I did not understand why things are shaking. “Jishin (Earthquake)!!!” – I put a cry. I remembered the first thing I had to do during a quake is to open the door and go under the table. I plunged in the room door and opened it with all my force. The electricity was cut. The hotel manager made a short enouncement, saying that all elevators did not operate and requesting all guests stay in their room until the next announcement. I went under the table when the room was still shaking. I feared the worst. Many images and ideas flied in my mind. “I am still young. I want to live longer. I just stay in Japan three weeks. I not yet know any thing about this country. My family is waiting for me to come back. My boyfriend is waiting for me to build a family. My objectives are not achieved. I don’t want to die in a foreign country.” I cried. Tears went down. Then, I felt that the room stopped shaking. I thought the nightmare was over. I waited under the table. The second announcement said that the shake had stopped and there was no danger because the hotel was built against a quake up to 10 degree Richter. There was no damage in the hotel. No one was wounded. I went out of the table and turned the TV on. I saw an image of Tokyo in the shake. All metro lines and trains stopped. People on the street were shaking. The announcement on the TV assured that there will be no quake after the shake. Fortunately, I was still safe and sound. Anyway, it was my first experience of earthquake. My tears stopped falling down. I believed that I was alive.

I left my hotel room – my home in Tokyo – to go to my business school, the International University of Japan in Niigata prefecture, on September 15th, 2005. I knew that I will come to the hotel again but I will never have this room again. So I took several pictures of my room before packing my luggage. I knew that if I had a chance to have this room, the room 615, again I would not have the same decoration and the same feeling at this moment. All I could say about this room which has become a part of my life was that the room has my footprint and is always in my mind. A new life was waiting for me.

The story goes

I will start to write in a series about my life in Japan, a wonderful piece of life that I loved and appreciated so much. This was a real discovery of Japan where I have learned so much and experienced what I have never seen in my life before. It is worth to come to discover Japan.

I lived almost 2 years in Niigata prefecture, Minami Uonumashi, a small town in between Tokyo and Niigata city, from 2005 to 2007. However, I first landed in Tokyo in July first, 2005 and my discovery started with joy, enthusiasm, motivation, fear and tears. Here are places that have burned up in my mind astonishing stories and unforgettable memories.

- Washington Shinjuku hotel
- Tokyo skyscraper district
- Shinjuku Goen Garden
- Shinjuku station
- Disney land Tokyo
- Kabukicho
- Harajuku
- Ueno
- Akihabara
- Tokyo tower
- Ikebukuro
- Mont Fuji
- Homestays
- Emperial Palace
- Asakusa
- Niigata sity
- Minami Uonumashi
- Okinawa
- Fukushima
- Osaka
- Kyoto
- Kobe
- Kamasatru
-Narita airport

Yes, this life was over but it stays always in my mind. One day, I relived Japan and I decided to write. The story goes…..

My life in Japan

This is a series of small histories about what I have observed, learned and experienced in Japan. As long as I discovered Japan, I was deeply impressed by Japnese people, their culture and their way of life.

During a 2-year stay in Japan, I have visited many places, tasted many dishes, met many people and made many friends. To me, Japan is an ideal place to live and work even though life is not so easy. It is always my dream to work or do business in Japan.

To many Japanese people, when you have a clear goal and you are determined to achieve it, you will get it. That is why many Japanese comic books and movies talk about heros who have goals and sacrifice their life to achieve these goals.

It was my strong childhood dream to come to discover Japan. Only until 2005 I would make it happen after years and years of preparation. Here the story goes.....

Cheap accommodation in Japan

The accommodation in Japan is very expensive, especially for a long travel. Business hotels are normally cheaper than other types of hotels but the lowest rates are around 9000 Japanese Yen in Tokyo areas. To many young travelers, Japan seems to be an unrealizable dream.

However, there are numbers of ways that young travelers or travelers with limited budgets can use to make their dream come true. I will talk about these ways based on my two-year experience in Japan

Home stay

Home stay is now very popular in Japan because Japanese people are very open-minded and they love to exchange cultures with foreigners. Japanese host families provide beds and sometimes Japanese foods. They are ready to show hosted guests around their cities and explain in details Japanese culture and traditions. Most host families can speak spoken English or perfect English. But it will be wonderful if travelers can speak some Japanese or are interested to learn Japanese.

There is a national club that groups all host families to receive foreigners: HIPPO club. Hippo club organize home stay programs, train host families to receive foreigners and cooperate foreign exchange programs. To ask for a home stay program, travelers should go to Hippo website, choose cities where they want to visit and write to host families in these cities. It is essential to provide the host families a detailed stay schedule so the host families can answer whether they are able to host or not.

Search by website

Rakuten is a website of almost all cheap hostels, youth hotels, holiday cottages, inns or individuals that have beds for rent. This website is written in English and easy to search. However, the information and photos provided by the website are not always real. Here is the link to this website:

Become a member of Japan Youth Hostels

This is a network of all youth hostels in Japan that gives discounts (up to ¥2000) to its members. To use its hostel network, foreign travelers have to buy a member cart by Internet or at offices their home countries. The benefits are that travelers can enjoy cheap accommodation with comfortable and cozy rooms in almost all regions in Japan. However, its youth hostels normally locate far city centers and room booking must be done well in advance.

Cheap hostels in Tokyo

There are numbers of cheap hostels in Tokyo. Here, “cheap” means that travelers stay in rooms shared by 6 or 8 persons in a dormitory. Each person has the room key and a small locker to keep luggage. There are normally a kitchen where travelers can cook their meals or make coffee or tea, a TV room and an internet room in such hostels. Travelers can use free internet or pay at a very cheap rates (¥500 per 10 minutes). Toilets and bathrooms are separated from rooms and shared by all users. Coin washing machines, coin copy machines and coin telephone-boxes are available. Travelers have to make their beds themselves.

If travelers go by group of more than 6 persons, it is a good solution to stay in Tokyo. For a short stay, it is also a good solution. Khaosan hostel near Sumida river (Asakusa) offers the cheapest rates in Japan: ¥1500 per person per night. Sakura hostel (in Asakura, near Asakusa shrine) offers the second cheapest rate at ¥2940 per person per night.

Remarks

- In Japan, hostel and hotel rates are counted per persons, not per rooms. It is prohibited to let other persons stay in a single room.

- There are always two styles of hostels and hotels: Japanese style and western style. Japanese style means that travelers sleep on “tatami mats” on floor. Western style means that travelers sleep in beds. Travelers should choose one style before booking rooms.

Japanese tea ceremony

The Japanese tea ceremony (chadō or sadō) is a traditional ritual influenced by Zen Buddhism . In this event, the powdered green tea, or matcha (抹茶), is prepared by a skilled tea practitioner and served to a small group of guests in a tranquil setting.

The tea practitioner wears kimono while serving tea. The tea room is decorated by calligraphy, flower arranging, incense and a wide range of other disciplines and traditional arts. The tea pot is installed in the center of the tea room. Guests are installed in U shape around the tea pot. There is no music.

A tea ceremony normally lasts within 4 hours. Guests are served a kind of Japanese sweets before drinking tea. In the tea room, the tea practitioner serves guests from the right to the left. The guest receives the tea cup by two hands, bows 45 degree and says thanks to the practitioner. Then, the guest turns the cup three times by two hands from the left to the right until he or she sees decoration patterns on the cup. Bowing the head, the guest says “Itadakimasu” (いただきます) and drinks tea. He or she returns the cup to the practitioner to serve others.

During the tea ceremony, guests should not discuss among them to respect a solemn atmosphere and to taste the tea. Instead, guests should not forget to say Itadakimasu before drinking tea. Before the ceremony ends, the practitioner explains in detailed the tradition and answers questions that guests may have.

After every one tasted the tea, the tea practitioner serves a light dinner with Japanese traditional meals. Now, guests are encouraged to exchange information and discuss freely.

The tea ceremony is organized to invite friends, colleagues and family members to stay a wonderful time together. I was invited two times by my Japanese host families. All I can say is that tea ceremony was wonderful and useful to learn Japanese and understand Japanese culture.

Cherry blossom season in Japan

The cherry-blossom, the national flower of Japan (hereafter referred to Sakura) generally starts flowering in spring. However, the flower season depends much on the temperature. At first, Sakura flowers in Okinawa island at the end of December until next February because the Okinawa island is the warmest region in Japan and spring commences in December. Then, Sakura flowers in the South of Japan. The last Sakura flowers in the North and Hokkaido Island.

Sakura at Kofukuji Temple, Nara

A lasting tradition

In Japan, almost all Japanese and foreigners living in Japan go watching Sakura. When Sakura flowers, local governments prepare “watching space”, which is places under or near to Sakura trees where visitors and stay to watch Sakura in flowers without touching or destroying them, to help visitors have the best look and wonderful experience. Japanese women and men wear Kimono when watching Sakura. They eat traditional foods, drink Sake (traditional Japanese alcohol made from rice) and discuss with friends or families under Sakura trees and watch flower petals falling. The term “Sakura watching” is called Ohanami (お花見) in Japanese. In Tokyo and big cities such as Osaka and Kyoto, some traditional fast foods are served at small mobile restaurants near the watching space. In small cities, traditional foods are served freely by local governments. Ohanami is a national festival and is a good business opportunity for tourism.

Where to watch Sakura in flowers?

There are some famous places in Japan where you can watch Sakura. Here are my comments:

Tokyo: Ueno park, Shinjuku garden, Sumida river in Asakusa

Kyoto: Kiyozumi Temple

Osaka: Osaka Castle

Nara: Kofukuji Temple

Kobe: Himeji Castle

Sakura at Himeji Castle, Kobe

How to organize a trip to see Sakura?

You should come to Japan after 15^th March. The best time to come is between 15^th March and 20^th March. Check weather forecasts and tourist news from Japan on internet.

You should arrive at Osaka first. Think about stay in Osaka 1 week to visit the city as well as world heritages around Osaka. You should visit: at least Kiyozumi Temple (Kyoto), Osaka Castle (Osaka), Kofukuji Temple (Nara) and Himeji Castle (Kobe). Then you take Shinkansen (super rapid train) to Tokyo. Here, you can start to visit Ueno park, Sumida river and Shinjuku garden. You can continue the direction to the North and end up with visiting Hokkaido island.

Accommodation and local travel

I will talk about how to search a cheap room in Japan in other article.