The mother of all culture shocks

I've been in Tokyo for a week and it's been by far the most bizarre week of my life; like I stepped into a parallel universe the minute I got off the plane. I wanted a challenge and I wanted an adventure. I've got both in spades.

It would be impossible to summarise everything, but here are some things that stand out:

• Outside the office, people speak barely any English. Much less than any other country I've travelled to. It's surprising how far gesticulating wildly and drawing pictures can get you, but to say this is a challenge is an understatement
• There are more restaurants and small bars ('izakaya') than you could visit in a hundred lifetimes and the food is really good, even if you're not quite sure what you're eating. For example, I ate smoked eel the other day without knowing (in Japan, it's rude to ask what the food is before you eat it)
• There are hardly any non-Japanese people in the city (excluding Koreans). When you see another foreigner, especially one who appears to be working in Tokyo, you give each other a look that says 'oh, so you're crazy too?'
• It's a myth that people always take their shoes off when entering offices, restaurants and other buildings and wear special shoes in the toilet. This is only in someone's home or a place of spiritual importance
• It's really tricky to open a bank account (partly because of the aforementioned lack of English), but also because of extra red-tape. In addition to your signature, you also need your own personal stamp that you have to get made at a special shop. It can be whatever combination of letters and symbols that you want. I thought long and hard and went for 'Alex' (I know, very creative)
• Even in Japan, I still get mistaken for Elijah Wood. My colleagues decided on day one that I will go to this year's Halloween party as Frodo Baggins. Some things never change...

As for the pictures, the top one is taken on the main inter-section in Roppongi, the area I'm staying in for the first month. I'm in an apartment right behind the glowing neon lights you can see across the road. The second one is taken at an incense caldron next to a temple in Asakusa. The Japanese believe the smoke gives you good health so they were all rubbing smoke into their faces. This was one activity I decided not to take part in. The third picture is the temple itself. Oh, and the picture below is a deep fried apricot (don't ask me why it's pink).