<p>Does anyone know if when you’re visiting Tokyo, as English speakers only, would we be able to get around the city without needing a professional tour guide? For example, do the cab drivers speak English, are there signs in English, would we be able to rely on a hotel concierge for getting around the city for a 3-4 day visit?</p>
<p>I think you should be okay depending on what you plan to do. </p>
<p>Many of the cab drivers don’t really speak English but if you write your destination address on a piece of paper and show it to the driver you s/b fine. A lot of the destination signs in the subway and some trains are in English but you need to pay attention to make sure you know when you’re at the correct stop. Make sure you know what ‘district’ (Shinjuku, Chiyoda, etc.) you’re in to help you get back. Also make sure you always have the name and address of your hotel with you. You can probably get a card from the hotel with this info on it.</p>
<p>If you’re at anything other than a small Japanese hotel, the hotel staff should be helpful. If you’re at a larger one they’re used to dealing with foreigners and the concierge s/b be helpful. Most larger hotels can also arrange for city tours that you might want to take (I haven’t actually been on one).</p>
<p>I’ve been lost in Tokyo a couple of times including walking around and in the subway but the Japanese people are very friendly and helpful if you just look like a ‘lost tourist/business-person’ and ask for help. I’ve walked over a number of parts of Tokyo and felt very safe everywhere I went.</p>
<p>We spent two weeks traveling around Japan with no more Japanese than the little pocket Berlitz book. Many people don’t speak English and few signs are in English, but we had a great time anyway. We even stayed in some traditional Japanese inns where no one spoke a word of English (helped by the fact that our stays had been set up by professors). We managed to figure out when it was bath time and when we needed to go have our meals. The bigger western style hotels always had English speakers. We didn’t spend much time in Tokyo. I’m sure it’s easier to get around than some of the smaller towns we were in.</p>
<p>Taxis are prohibitively expensive there, also. Most signs are not in English (actually, a lot of signs are only in Kanji, which can be very frustrating if you only know hiragana and katakana) but I know many non-Japanese speakers who do just fine there. It is a very safe and efficient city and as previous poster mentioned, Japanese people are extremely helpful and gracious. A guidebook couldn’t hurt, though.</p>
<p>I just bought my son a book, “Japan made easy” by De Mente(DS has landed a summer internship in Japan). Its filled with useful information including info about taxis and the subway system, renting a car etc, the Kanji for lots of common signs and translations as well as customs. I thought it looked really helpful.</p>