About 30 years ago when I was first planning on going to Japan, I was petrified, I had no idea what to expect, there was no internet, no smart phones, there were no hand held navigation devices and the only exposure I had to speaking Japanese was what I heard in movies (my best friend from primary school was half Japanese but his mum only ever spoke in English so it didn't prepare me at all - more on this another time).
Anyway, guess what, I survived, I bought a phrase book which came with a cassette of some basic introduction phrases and colours etc. Not really sure if I managed to learn too many things before I got to Japan. But I do remember kicking back on that first flight listening to the tape on my Walkman. The one phrase that I must of thought was pretty important, because I definitely had it down pat was, toire wa doko desu ka? In English, this means Where is the toilet? Don't judge me, that's pretty important stuff.
I've arrived in Japan and I'm out on the first day in Tokyo in a suburb called Hamamatsucho and I did manage to use my phrase, but sadly the person I asked didn't quite understand my western accent and actually spoke perfect English. Now as disappointing as that might seem I was pretty relieved when my very basic training delivered such a great result and so quickly.
The point to my story is there is nothing to worry about, a very large percentage of the population have some level of English capability, today most signs are in both Japanese and English and today we have Google and Smart phones that can get you to pretty much anywhere you want to go without too much effort.
I'd still recommend learning some useful phrases like
Sumimasen Excuse Me
XXXXX wa doko desu ka Where is XXXXX ?
Domo arigato Thank you
ikura desu ka How much is this?
namae wa nan desu ka What is your name?
watashi wa (Your name) desu My name is (your name)
Japanese people are very proud of their culture and language and if you can make a little effort to learn at least these 6 simple phrases shows respect and shows that you've tried. We've always found that Japanese people just love to know that visitors have made some effort to learn some of their language (they also recognise how hard it is for us). You'll be surprised (pleasantly) just how receptive people will be when you try.
You'll be really surprised just how many Japanese words you already know. There are literally thousands of Western words that have crept into the Japanese vernacular, they just sound a little different. After a while you'll get the idea. For example a hot dog is called a hotto doggu, jeans becomes jeanzu, beer becomes beeruu (sounds not spelling)
Here's a cute video from Cool Japan TV that may help you understand what I mean:-
