Saitama and the matter of perspective

Today I was at Saitama with my wife to pick up a time capsule letter from an old friend who runs a nice small coffee shop in a side street. (if you are a coffee enthusiast check Limenas Coffee they have coffee from all over the world)
Saitama is direct to Tokyo. If you ask
Saitama and especially Tokyo people they would say Saitama is countryside.
The truth is 1.2 million people living in Saitama. That is bigger than Cologne or Duesseldorf and just slightly smaller than Munich which are some of the biggest city's in Germany. But what is big?
Once a friend of mine who lives more countryside in Germany told about the big city she is now working. I asked how much people living there and it was 30.000. By myself I'm living in a city with
350.000 people and though that 30.000 is no big at all! But probably it's just a matter of perspective. If you compare Tokyo with more than 12 million people with Saitama 1.2 million people. Then yes Saitama is really small and countryside. 

But actually it seems to be a nice city. So if you want to see something outside the usual Tokyo stuff and a area with less tourists and where many japanese people living you should give Saitama a try.

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