Do most japanese people understand basic english?

Question:

I've watched a ton of anime (over 50 series) and I've noticed that a lot of opening and ending theme songs include english lyrics.

Answer:

Most japanese have a basic understanding of english. For the past year, japanese only started studying english when they got into high school. But that has slowly changed to where they start learning english in Elementary school now. This year it has changed to where they have to study even more in 5th and 6th grade. but most japanese can read and write english pretty good. Speaking a listening are a big problem for them