The "Egypto Kai" that was scheduled to take place today was cancelled. The Egypto Kai, a monthly meeting arranged by the Egyptian community in Tokyo was called off due to 30% possible rainfall. The plan for today was an outdoor barbecue in
Daikanyama, an upper class neighbourhood in Tokyo.
Many Egyptians, especially first timers (including myself) were disappointed. Not wanting to give up, a group of Egyptians agreed to make up for it. They planned a day trip to
Yokohama. I, excited about starting this blog, grasped the opportunity and tagged along to have my first look into how Arabs live in Tokyo.
We happily agreed to meet at
Sakuragicho Station at 9:30 AM. Not everyone made it on time. A Japanese professor and a previous visiting professor at Cairo University, was also invited and was there at exactly 9:30 ready to show us Egyptians around Yokohama.
(Navigate using the blue arrows. Clicking on the picture takes you to Picasa page)We had a lot of fun. We talked about Japan, Japanese people, differences in countries, cultures, food, food and food. The mother of one Egyptian student who only arrived to Japan two weeks ago said: "Japan is an amazingly clean country, I was impressed" she said, "but I just don't understand how Japanese people can eat raw fish. It’s tasteless"
Food is a big issue and it was definitely a common concern among all Egyptians in the group. Arabic cuisine is different from Japanese cuisine. And although everyone came to love sushi after living in Japan, today, when our stomachs started rumbling, even for those who had only arrived two days ago and travelled thousands of miles to experience Japanese culture, there was only one place to go, the "Doner Kebab" place.