He came from Yokohama almost 20 years ago, hoping to contribute a bit of the culture from his native Japan, something he felt was a growing trend worldwide.

Now he's celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his own Japanese and sushi restaurant in Bogotá, and he just moved to a great new site, the spoils of his success.

Meet Kenji Tokai, the founder of Arigato, home to the best sushi I've had in Colombia. It's actually so good, it reminds me of sushi I've had in New York, Los Angeles, Japan.

This restaurant was one of the recommendations of the Bogotá Foodie, a place he said I just had to go if I really like sushi, and as usual, he was right.

We started with the large tempura mixto, a big plate of battered seafood and vegetables for 28,000 pesos (about $11), a great way to start dinner.

Then came the sushi.

My very first portion was a piece of the kenshin maki, a roll topped with salmon with eel inside. The salmon was incredibly fresh, so fresh it felt like it was melting in my mouth, while the flavor of the eel — one of my favorite foods — created a crave-worthy combination.

I later learned that Kenji imports his salmon from Chile every week.

This roll was part of the matsuri combo (51,000 pesos, or about $20), which also included:

• Kaisen maki (octopus and seaweed salad, two more favorites of mine)
• Kenji maki (tuna, salmon and perch, with avocado)
• Salada maki (crab, prawns, cucumber, lettuce and tartar sauce)

They were all great, although, as you can probably tell, the kenshin maki is my favorite of them all.

At the end of the night, we talked to Kenji and I found out that he opened the restaurant with a commitment to the kind of authenticity and quality he is used to in Japan.

When he got to Bogotá in 1999 he started working at Wok, a chain restaurant with a menu that offers a variety of Asian food, everything from Japanese to Vietnamese. He eventually realized he could have his own restaurant, a place where he could use his own recipes, recipes from home.

He and his wife Maki bring in fish daily from the Pacific Coast, a practice that ensures most of the fish they use has never been frozen. If another restaurant does this, I do not know of it.

This is why it can be a little pricey at Arigato, but I'll pay more for that kind of quality. In fact, I went back the following week.

I was tempted to order the kenshin maki again, but I decided to try three different rolls, all half portions. I went with:

• Daruma maki (crab, tuna, avocado, cucumber and hot sauce, which I believe was Sriracha, my favorite hot sauce)
• Ishikari maki (salmon, salmon eggs and cucumber)
• Takumi maki (crab, perch, avocado, cucumber, onion and plum)

Altogether I spent 51,000 pesos (about $20). That included the extra 6,000 pesos (about $2.38) I paid to have imported tuna from Spain with my daruma maki. It was hard to tell the difference from other tuna, but I think the Sriracha, such a rich sauce, had a lot to do with it.

That would be my last meal at Arigato's original location, on Calle 76 in the Chapinero Alto, one of Bogotá's most popular neighborhoods. Kenji and Maki are still in the same barrio, just in a better location: next to Plaza Atlantis and across the street from Parque 80.

It's slightly bigger, although the interior layout is the same, with the dining tables to the left and right and an aisle through the middle, toward the back of the restaurant, where an open kitchen allows you to watch you're sushi being made.

It's a great way for Kenji, Maki and their employees to take pride in the preparation of your food, something they've done for 10 years now, and I hope at least 10 more.

Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1 here.

We've already covered culture, dining, and the economy as part of the first six variables when comparing Colombia's two biggest cities.

That brings us here, to Bogota vs. Medellin: Recreation, Safety, and Transportation.

We'll touch on entertainment, green space and the pace of life as well, before giving you our conclusions on everything. Let's get to it.

7. Entertainment

Bogotá, being the capital and bigger city, has more concerts and festivals than Medellín. That's a fact.

As for weekly entertainment, they're about equal.

You can find a variety of live music, bars, and clubs in both cities.

Medellín leans heavier toward salsa and reggaeton, but you can find jazz, rock, and tango as well, just as you can in the capital.

8. Green Space

I hear so often how much greener Medellín is than Bogotá, and maybe this is true to some extent. Daily in Medellín, you see more parks and trees than you would in Bogotá.

Here's why that's misleading.

Medellín's best neighborhoods tend to be concentrated in the southern half of the city, where most foreigners spend their time. Therefore, they see the prettiest parts of the city more often than not.

In Bogotá, it's so big, and everything is so spread out, you can't help but pass some areas that are all concrete and no green.

For example, most of the hostels in Bogotá are in La Candelaria, in the south, but the nightlife is in the Zona T, in the north.

That means foreigners are forced to pass some ugly areas in between.

This kind of selective imagery, based mostly on geography, can alter one's views. So let's look closer.

Bogotá's biggest park is Parque Simón Bolívar at 988 acres. To give you an idea of how big that is, Central Park in New York is 843 acres.

Medellín's biggest park is Parque Natural Regional Metropolitano Cerro El Volador, at 262 acres.

That's about a third the size of Bogotá's second-biggest park, Parque Nacional Olaya Herrera, which covers about 700 acres.

Here's where Medellín has the advantage: the beautiful Parque Arví.

The city's Metrocable allows easy access to the park in the eastern hills, a green space of more than 4,350 acres!

But the park isn't actually in Medellín, and it will take you a while to get there, maybe an hour or so if you're in one of the more popular areas with foreigners, Laureles or Poblado.

9. Pace of life

I already alluded to this in the culture and economy sections, so I won't spend too much time on this. I'll keep it simple: things in Bogotá happen faster.

People drive faster, move faster, walk faster. About the only thing they do faster in Medellín is talk.

10. Recreation

Green space is a part of this, sure, but there are other amenities that recreation covers.

My favorite, and the big difference between the cities, is the Ciclovía. Both cities have them, but Bogotá opens so many more streets to cyclists, pedestrians, and skaters than the Medellín's Ciclovía.

Bogotá is in a wider valley and has that luxury.

Otherwise, both cities have interactive parks for kids and nearby outdoor activities such as hiking and zip-lining.

11. Safety

Bogotá surpassed Medellín in homicides, 1,283 to 924, according to the latest statistics I could find.

But on a per capita basis, Bogotá suffered 16 murders per 100,000 people, about half as much as the 31 murders per 100,000 people that Medellín endured during the same period.

Let's dig deeper, though, because the numbers don't tell the whole story.

A lot of those murders are drug-related and occur between people who know each other. In other words, if you don't go looking for trouble in either city and are aware of your surroundings, you should be okay.

12. Transportation

I just touched on this last week, when I ranked Bogotá's Transmilenio system higher than Medellín's Metro system.

They're both great systems, so good you don't need a car in either city, but Bogotá's system is more extensive -- my No. 1 concern; Medellín's system is a little less hectic and more innovative, something preferable to others.

It just depends on what you want, the entire point of this two-part series, which leads me to...

Final Recommendations

The cities are even in several key areas: dining, entertainment, green space, safety.

That means your decision should come down to other variables, and here's what I think:

If you're a hard-charging go-getter who puts work above all else, who looks at big crowds moving at warp speed as beautiful chaos, who likes to cover a lot of ground by bicycle when possible, who prefers a more international and atmosphere, who doesn't mind seeing dirtier streets and braving slightly frigid weather and, sometimes, people to match the climate, move to Bogotá.

If you're a laid-back person who is retiring or is looking for a place that puts social life ahead of work, who is more comfortable in a smaller city where you'll rarely feel overcrowded, and you'll usually see cleaner streets, who is more adaptable to a city with a warmer climate and friendlier people, who doesn't mind that these friendly people might not keep their word, move to Medellín.

You hear people debate this all the time — Bogotá vs. Medellín — and on the surface, the answer seems easy.

Most foreigners and even more paisas, choose Medellín.

It makes sense. The warmer climate and slower pace of life tend to placate a majority of the people I talk to who live in or have visited Medellín, and anywhere I've gone those are qualities people tend to prefer, and I've been to 16 countries and 40 states in the United States.

I grew up in a small town in Hawaii but later lived in New York, not in the city but not far outside it and I spent a lot of time in the Big Apple, both during my time in the Empire State and every year that followed my departure, and if I had to choose between the two, I'd pick New York.

I love Hawaii, and Hilo will always be home, but the slow pace of life and flaky nature of many of the people gets to me, despite how friendly the people generally are.

Hilo and New York could be metaphors for what I'm about to write, but let's break down the variables that often determine the best place to live, starting with Part 1 of this two-part series, Bogotá vs Medellín: Culture, Dining and the Economy.

Before you continue, I have to warn you now: these posts will be complimentary and critical, equally for both cities, at least that's the goal and I'm not keeping score so if things lean a little more in one direction, that's by accident, not the intention.

The idea is to help you decide where to live — a big decision — based on the things you value, which is why at the end of each post I'll sum up what I've written with a recommendation.

Let's get started.

1. Beauty

Bogotá, so big with more than 10 million people in the metropolitan area, is not nearly as manageable as Medellín, a metro area of almost 4 million.

You'll notice the difference along the principal streets. Medellín has less trash lining its primary thoroughfares (although I've seen a bit of discarded garbage along the Río Medellín in the hillside slums).

Medellín does not have as much graffiti either, but a lot of the spray art on Bogotá's walls is quite creative, much like Valparaíso, a coastal Chilean city famous for that very reason.

If you compare the best neighborhoods in each city, they're very similar.

These areas have modern buildings, a variety of architecture, a strong police presence, many shopping options, lots of parks and trees, many bars, cafes and restaurants, and easy access to public transportation.

In Bogotá, you'll find this in the Chapinero, Chicó, Usaquén, Zona G, Zona T, and several others. In Medellín, Laureles and Poblado top the list.

2. Climate

I prefer a slightly cooler climate. I mean, you can always put on more clothes, but you can take off only so many, at least without being arrested.

Most people don't see it that way.

They prefer La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera, or the City of Eternal Spring, Medellín's nickname. I'd argue it's not eternal. Each year Medellín gets a little hotter.

That means Bogotá has gotten warmer as well, some days even a bit too warm for me.

3. Cost of Living

Overall, Bogotá is more expensive when it comes to three necessities: food, rent and taxis.

A set meal in Medellín that costs 6,000 pesos (about $2.50) will cost 8,000 pesos (about $3) in Bogotá. And expect your groceries to cost about 20 percent more.

A comfortable living situation in Medellín that costs 600,000 pesos (about $250) will often cost at least 800,000 pesos (about $300) in Bogotá.

And a taxi ride that costs 10,000 pesos (about $4) in Medellín will cost 14,000 pesos (about $6) in Bogotá.

One of the places you will save money in Bogotá is dry cleaning, at least 20 percent, probably because there are a lot more people wearing suits, thus the energy costs are passed on to a bigger pool of people.

4. Culture

People in Medellín have a reputation for being extremely friendly, and I'd say that's more or less correct.

They love to socialize and are happy to welcome you to their city, to give you advice and if time allows and it often does, to show you around.

With all of that comes a downside, however.

The advice they give you isn't always sound advice. For example, they'd rather give you directions they are unsure of, and they often end up being bad directions, instead of telling you they don't know, because they often have too much pride to admit they don't know something.

This also means they don't know how to say no, even if they have no plans of coming through for you, hence the reason you often find yourself the victim of capricious promises, waiting for something that will never come, be it a date, a job, a meeting, anything really.

Trying to talk to paisas about this can be very difficult as well. Many of them have not been outside their city or region and, therefore, are ignorant to the other ways of the world, and are reluctant to accept even constructive criticism about their culture.

Bogotá is the opposite.

It's a very international city, so the people are more progressive. They tend to be more direct, more likely to follow through on their promises.

This city, of course, has its downsides too.

People here are busy and will often ignore you if you ask them for directions. Many of them don't care if you like their city either, don't care what you think about their culture, and they won't befriend you very quickly.

That means if culture were described as climate, the forecast in Bogotá would be slightly chilly in every way but with a chance for meaningful relationships if you can stand the initial cold while Medellín would be warm up front with a chance of rain to ruin your parade.

5. Dining

Being a more international city, Bogotá has more options to try foods from around the world. But Medellín is making things close.

As more foreigners move there, more types of cuisine are featured.

I guess you can't go wrong in either city if you're going out to eat. You'll just have more to choose from in you're in the capital.

6. Economy/Education

As I said under the culture section, people in Bogotá are busy. It's a bustling center of commerce, full of cultures from around the globe.

You can find work in finance, health care, journalism, law, teaching, you name it.

Medellín has made strides as well, winning the 2012 City of the Year award from Citibank, the Urban Land Institute and the Wall Street Journal.

Some people feel Medellín is becoming another Silicon Valley with online entrepreneurs flocking there while job opportunities in the fields I mentioned above are growing as well.

Now, the bad that goes with the good.

In Bogotá, people are more impatient.

If you prefer to take your time, things can be tough here. You can get run over, figuratively and literally, if you don't work quickly.

Your boss and co-workers might not ask for something nicely all the time either, and they might even raise their voice, because work, and getting results, are the most important parts of daily life.

"People are not nice there," people often have told me, and I see their point.

In Medellín, it's the opposite.

The culture, so relaxed and always trying to please, causes problems as well, especially when it comes to the old adage, "No dé papaya," or, "Don't give papaya," a phrase they use to explain why you shouldn't show off or give people a reason to rob you, or they will.

They use it so liberally in Medellín, it's hard to find a business partner you can trust, something I and many others — foreigners and paisas — have learned the hard way.

Even that big City of the Year award Medellín won was largely a popularity contest, an achievement the city earned by convincing its people to vote in droves during the first phase of the competition, before a panel selected the city as the winner among three finalists.

Halfway Point Recommendation

If you're looking for a place that's a true big city, a place that feels like an international hub, somewhere in which people are more accountable and direct and take their work very seriously, even though they can be a little cold, like the climate, Bogotá is for you.

If you're looking for a place that's not so overwhelming, that's a little warmer, both with the climate and the people, even though you might find duplicity behind the initial friendly demeanor, Medellín is for you.

But don't make a final decision just yet. Part 2 is on the way.