I worked in a small-medium business in Tokyo for a couple of years. The developers were primarily other foreigners, but the rest of the company was Japanese.

The company never really had any drinking parties, and from my perspective I wish there had been. On the other hand, I never really worked overtime, never felt pressure to do so, and didn't suffer from any of the other major stereotypical problems.

For the last year I've been running my own consulting firm here. Around me it seems like there are many other people do their own innovative things here, but maybe those are just the circles I run in.