After arriving at the Tokyo airport I spent an hour trying to find a phone that could call my Servas host as I was instructed to do by him. Apparently he had not set his cell phone to accept non-caller ID phones and public phones are non-caller ID phones. I finally found a gaijin (non-Japanese) with a cell phone. None of the Japanese people I asked, spoke english. This was not surprising to me now, because I was told this by several Japanese travelers I had met in Europe; that most people in Japan do not speak english. What did surprise me was that most information booth staff in Tokyo and Kyoto did not speak english, that much signage in public transportation facilities did not have English and that many of the tourist attractions had no english signs.
I had to guess from directions on maps what one large temple complex I visited in Tokyo was.

My first Servas host in Tokyo was a high school english teacher (they teach no other foreign languages) and even though he had been teaching english over 25 years we could barely understand each other. This is too bad as I guessed we had a lot in common - he showed me a language workbook he wrote which was about a Thai elephant who stepped on an unexploded landmine. It seems that he too, tries to incorporate a little political consciousness-raising in his lessons.

My next hosts in Tokyo and Kyoto had a much better command of the language and we were able to talk more.

Some observations of Japan: Very clean - no shoes in house, slippers for the house, separate slippers for the bathroom, high-tech toilets with temperature controlled seats. No gum on side walks. No trash. No benches in public places - anywhere. Very considerate people when it comes to fellow Japanese - raised blind walkway markers inlaid in every side walk. Brail on most signs. Sound signals at intersections. Many people wearing surgical masks to keep other people from getting their illness.

I found the Japanese people I stayed with (3 different Servas hosts over 6 days) to be very warm and friendly. Even on the street people seemed very considerate and friendly. Twice someone stopped to help me when I had my map out and was looking for landmarks.

But as a society, I kind of felt the Japanese purposely neglected to consider the needs of foreigners. I don't mean to sound like I think all people should speak english. If Lithuanian was the most common language in the world, I would be just in favor of having street signs, public transport maps and signs, ATM machines, menus, tourist attractions signs and information plaques - in Lithuanian. But the most common language is english and in every country I have visited - even the most remote, there was ample use of english for native english speakers as well as the majority of other travelers; Germans, Italians, Spaniards, Hungarians, Israelies, who all usually speak english as well.

It was just so frustrating.

The first day there I tried three ATMs in Tokyo before I found one that had an english menu - and then somewhere through the transaction, it reverted back to Japanese only, leaving me no way of knowing how to cancel the transaction so that the next person could not access my account. I saw more that a few information maps that had the title "Information Map" in engish - but nothing else. And, for the most part, in Tokyo and Kyoto there were no street signs - even in Japanese.

I was glad I had bought a little compass for $1 in a Hong Kong night market, because it came in very handy in Japan as I had to navigate using a map, landmarks, the compass and my old boy scout orienteering skills.

And the costs - I was spending $100 a day and glad I had changed my length of stay from 3 weeks to 1 week.