Apologies if there is an obvious answer to this somewhere, but I wasn’t able to locate it after a 10 minute search. Looking for some feedback on what we should expect and/or how feasible it would be to visit Japan.
Background:
* 4 person family with 13 and 11 year old
* Wife is from Taiwan, so she can read traditional Chinese characters, but knows zero Japanese
* I spent an exchange semester in Japan 25 years ago and only remember some basic words and can read zero Japanese or Chinese
* I was in the Osaka region in 1999 and I remember that getting around on English (my native language was even less possible) was next to impossible. I remember people smiling very politely or waving their hands and then scurrying away. I also remember always having space, even in packed trains and busses, because no one wanted to sit or stand close to me (I checked, it wasn’t my smell)
* Once I got used to being treated like a weird alien, it was a very cool semester and I always wanted to go back
* We are looking at about 10 days in the end of November and ideally would like to spend some time in Tokyo and the Osaka (Kyoto, Nara) regions. If possible at all I would also like to go into the countryside in Gifu, where they have those cool houses, but gather that is probably a stretch given our limited language skills (it was only possible back then because I had Japanese friends who would do all the talking, navigating, etc.)
Questions:
* What should we expect in terms of communication, ability to get around, buying stuff in shops and restaurants, etc., given this background, in the different regions in Japan?
* Travel by public transportation is recommended way to get around in our situation I assume?
Based on feedback I will probably build an itinerary and ask for more feedback on that later on. Many thanks for your help. Arigato!
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EDIT: Nice. Thank you all for the quick replies! Sounds like it has changed quite a bit in the last 25 years (which I guess makes sense since that is a long time). Feel much more comfortable planning this now. Thank you again!
by Nervous_Track_1393