Will one have great difficulty getting around Tokyo as a tourist without speaking any Japanese?

Question:

Answer:

Generally speaking, getting around Japan's larger cities with little or no Japanese isn't much of a problem. Street signs and train station signs are usually bilingual (even in more rural areas that rarely get tourists). Hotels are used to accommodating foreigners and probably have at least some English-speaking staff. You should be able to find plenty of restaurants with picture and/or bilingual menus. That said, you ARE in a foreign country and shouldn't expect everyone around you to speak fluent English. It would be polite for you to learn some basic Japanese before you go -- it's not that hard -- so you can at least thank people in their own language.