One of the first things that jumps out at you when you start exploring Tokyo is that it is very confusing trying to get around because there are very few street names. And they are really hard to decipher when you do come across the occasional road sign. It’s a navigation nightmare. And being lost in Tokyo is a very humbling experience. You feel completely helpless.
In addition, the Tokyo street layout bears no resemblance to the American or European grid system, so there is no discernible pattern. It’s essentially a maze of streets that feed haphazardly into central boulevards.
Without Google Maps, which can get squirrely in the big building caverns, you are totally screwed and hopelessly lost. The good news is that the Tokyo internet is seamless. You will ALWAYS have a strong signal. The bad news is that for some inexplicable reason, Google’s signal seems to get scrambled quite often. For instance, it will tell you to walk 350-feet and turn right, and then suddenly it will change its mind and tell you to walk 750-feet and turn left. This will soon drive you crazy. And hardly anyone speaks English, so it’s hard to ask directions.
Before we left for Japan, many people told us over and over again, “Everyone speaks English in Tokyo and the big cities — or at least all the younger people.”
Yeah, well, that’s total bullshit. I spent a month in Japan, traveled to four of the biggest metropolitan areas on Honshu, the most populated and urban island, walked about ten miles a day, covering lots of ground wherever I went, and I only had one meaningful conversation, and that was with a young lady bartender working in an Irish pub in Kyoto, who was born in Japan but had spent her teenage years in Hawaii. The staff at the hotels speak pigeon English, at best. So, that leaves expats and Europeans — usually Brits — to chat with.
So, here’s a trick we learned very early in our stay. It’s wise to always carry a paper map so you can point to where you want to go when you ask someone for help. It works every time. And once the average Japanese person knows your destination, they will usually take you there.
Which brings me to my second trick. I call it the Blanche Dubois Trick. Blanche was the the lead female character in “A Streetcar Named Desire” who said that the secret to her life was that she had always “depended on the kindness of strangers”. So, when in doubt, ask for help. Even if there’s a language barrier, the Japanese have endless patience and they will always try and help you out.
