travel to japan?

I'm looking for people who have been to japan because i want to make sure when i get there that i am possible to get around, i heard there are english signs etc but what about taxi drivers they most likely know any english witch means i would have to walk around unless theres one of those guide type bus, if anyone ever traveled there before and can offer some tips that would be great

Recently, taxi drivers are "working poor" in Japan. If they could understand English, they would have taken better job. I think tour conductors of Hato Bus can understand English. You can find the office at Tokyo station. HATO you have something trouble in Japan, the best way is to go to police box, or to search tourist office.

Most taxi drivers do not speak English. Most signs do have English. Your best bet for getting around is to take the train. Their public transportation system is the best in the world for good reason. If you find you do need to take a taxi make sure you know where you want to go, or at least the area you want to go. If you can say Shibuya, or Shinjuku, the cab drivers will take you there. You should plan your days and where you want to go on that day. Get a travel book or two (Frommers, Lonely Planet). Ultimatly... stick to the trains. They have info desks in all the major stations where they can understand English, and can help you.

First many major cities are well covered by public transportation. Tokyo has one of the most extensive public transportation networks in the entire world. Train stations and trains in Tokyo have bilingual signs at stations and on trains. Also many trains have announcements in English now. The automatic train ticketing machines also have an ENGLISH function on them. However once you figure how to use the machines you realize you really don't need to press ENGLISH, since its pretty easy to use. Taxi drivers mostly speak Japanese, so if you say a major district to them, you might want to tell them to take you to the nearest train station to where you want to go to, otherwise have a japanese printout of the map or address you want to go to. IF YOU PLAN before hand, I highly suggest visiting and getting a book like FODOR's JAPAN and FROMMER's JAPAN. IF YOU PLAN before leaving for Japan, looking at maps, reading the travel books, you will find traveling around major cities easier then if you were just to show up with no knowledge of anything.

Get a Japanese Rail Pass. You can use it to travel all of Japan except the Ruyuku Islands. It's great value as rail travel is expensive. Please note, though, you cannot use it on a Nozomi service and you need to buy the coupon outside Japan and exchange it for a Railpass when you get there. Bus fares are quite cheap.

Be careful of Tokyo taxis... they love to short change tourists. I live here and speak Japanese but still, whenever I take a taxi in Tokyo they always short change me until I yell at them in Japanese, then of course they say "oh so sorry I made a mistake." When my family visited and I was playing tourguide, we had to take 2 taxis to a hotel, they were from different companies but still both of them tried to cheat us. Fortunately I noticed, but my family in the other taxi did not and got cheated out of 5000 yen ($50). :( However, if it can't be avoided, the taxi drivers will almost certainly know what you mean if you say or show them the name of your destination.

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