Been to Japan a couple of times.
Some things me my girlfriend at the time stood out:
English teachers (in the mid-90s) had worse English skills than many 15 year old non-native students have in communicating, they understand written language much better than listening to the same sentences spoken.
Don't rely on directions from someone you don't know, if they don't know they just point you somewhere they think the place are. (Google Maps eliminated that somewhat, but Japanese letters are hard to type), and most cant speak English at all.
Taxi, reliable and very expensive, if you have the place in written Japanese.
Trains is the way to travel in Japan quick and always on time, we did try to fly a 747 domestic trip once, they had to put me in the exit row for my knees to fit.
Awesome museums, and parks all over Japan
In Hiroshima they have rewritten the history to the extent it pissed me off, very little remorse of the history before, and much of the tragedy of the actual bombing.
Kyoto is beautiful, but hard to find yourself around.¨
Tokyo with all you want if you have the money for the housing.
Nagoya, and Kobe : We were fortunate to have a Japanese girl with us a-English teacher with us we met in Australia a year before, so we were the first westerners going to places we would never have thought of.
We even went to her wedding in Hiroshima the year after, but that's another story.
