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As someone who went to the greater Tokyo area about a month ago. I can unironically confirm that pretty much everything does have subtitles. (in the form of text translation and most workers speak some sort of english/have someone available that speaks english)
As someone who lives in Japan, that is true as long as you stay inside the tourist bubble. Once you start venturing into places not meant for visitors, the difficulty goes from 0 to 100 real quick. That said, sometimes those experiences of struggling communication can be among the best you’ll have here.
I lived in Busan Korea back in the nineties before it was developed and before it was exporting its pop culture. I remember struggling to even get a Coke out of a vending machine. It was really difficult, but since I was young and adventurous, it was also super fun.
By the time I went to Fukuoka a couple times for visa runs, I had that expat sixth sense that allowed me to navigate around with next to no knowledge of the language. I was able to get cabs, take the subway, find my hotel, get food (though I didn't always know what I was ordering) etc.
I still laugh to this day at my attempts to play pachinko when I stumbled upon such establishment. The people inside were particularly entertained with my nonsense.
Ye, I did go out a little bit of the Tokyo tourist area and it was a bit confusing with restaurants but not bad either. Tech really helps with all of that nowadays. DeepL did some heavy lifting there.
Thats interesting. So you were able to navigate and peruse the town with relative ease?
Pretty much yea, the hardest part was the train but tbh that's because I'd never been on a train so I wasn't sure how the map worked. Took me like 15 minutes and a couple missed trains to figure it out. Google maps is actually amazing for this, assuming you're staying in the greater Tokyo area.
