Would there be a problem if we don't speak the language in Japan?

Well, you don't need to speak Japanese for Japan-Travel.

We did have some concerns about our inability to speak the language initially. In fact, Missy (my travel mate cum gd friend) bought a book to pick up some common phases for use during travel. YY (another travel mate cum gd friend) also brought along her electronic dictionary.

Despite making a few trips to Japan, I can only speak a few words like “konichiwa (hello/good afternoon)”, “sayonara (goodbye)” and “mizu (water”). Well, I guess it is because you don’t need to know the language to make your way around. As long as you did some research on your routes beforehand and have a map on hand, it is relatively easy to find your way around. Even when you get lost at times, you can still “ask” around for help. Japanese are very helpful people. Usually I just need to point the place I want to get to on the map, they will try their best to direct me. Body language is the best way of communication. Sometimes they may even accompany us for a short distance to ensure that we are on the right track.

(P.S. People in Tokyo area are usually not as friendly or helpful. I guess it is because they are too busy rushing about. Good thing is that Tokyo is a city with the proper infastructure in place so it is almost impossible to get lost)

There was once when Missy and I were making our way to Mt Fuji from Nikko. We were supposed to take JR from Nikko station to Kawaguchiko Station (the train journey is about 5 hours). But we made a mistake and gotten ourselves to Kawaguchi Station (over 2 hours from Nikko Station). At first, we thought that Kawaguchiko Station and Kawaguchi Station should be near to each other. To our horror, we realised that they are about 3 hours in journey apart.

Though it was our fault for the mix-up, the station master was very nice about it. He asked one of the senior officers to company us on the journey to Kawaguchi Station, which involved some transfers. The officer escorted us all the way till Otsuki Station for more than one hour. I suspected if not the fact that the train from Otsuki Station to Kawaguchiko Station is operated by another railway company, he will company us all the way till Kawaguchiko Station. (Should have taken a photo with him.)

There is a very useful website which we find very useful for planning our routes in Japan is http://www.hyperdia.com/ (The main website is in Japanese but you can just click on the English tab for the English version) It is a database with the complete list of train schedules. As long as you know the stations of your location and your destination, you can simply input these information and the date and time that you are looking at, it will provide you with the possible routes to get to the destination based on the time you are looking at. The duration of the various routes and the cost will also be reflected so that you can assess and make your best choice.
This is more useful for longer journeys and I don’t think you really need to use this if you are just travelling within Tokyo.