Although almost everyone has studied some English in school, not everyone is able to converse in English.

If you are having trouble making yourself understood you can try writing it down. English pronunciation and intonation can be difficult to understand for Japanese speakers. It is also helpful to print out any travel details you have planned. If the pages contain English and Japanese characters it's even better! Be careful, there are some train station in Japan with the same or similar names. Make sure you are understood by giving people as much detail as possible. Our closest station is "Kamishiro" in Hakuba, Nagano (Hakuba is the name of the town, and Nagano is the prefecture).

Here http://www.digi-promotion.com/tokyo-info/info-eigo-list.html is a site with some handy phrases