BEING THERE

Seventeen-course banquets, eight-thousand dollar hotel rooms, the tallest buildings and the fastest trains in a city twice the size of Greater London Tokyo is to most cities what other cities are to Piddlehinton in Dorset: big.

For a global megalopolis it's still surprisingly homogenous, though immigrant minorities are very much minorities, and foreign workers rarely stay for more than a year or two. This means that despite neon arcades full of fashionable foreign restaurants, getting hold of Giant-Foreigner-size shoes, familiar brand-name medicines or business translation services takes time, energy and a liquid disposable income. It's advisable to plan Tokyo business trips well in advance. On the plus side, what Tokyo lacks in international community it makes up for in Japanese oddities and marvels. Japan's isolation until the turn of the century has left it with a unique way of life.

Tokyo is full of delightful little culture shocks; semi-religious customs (the wearing of white gloves by public servants and the importance of saying grace before eating), the variety of Japanese cuisines (from succulent beef grilled on hot stones to raw horse sashimi), the extraordinary modern architecture (watch out for Love Hotels disguised as Wild west ranches and Aztec pyramids) and the plethora of ancient traditions and beliefs, including the Buddhism of senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, the Shinto religion of the Meiji Shrine, and the Chinese medicines for sale in the ramshackle side-streets you'll find hidden away between skyscrapers.