Just wanted to echo giblet's comments. My wife was concerned about visiting Japan last years because of potential difficulty with language and communications. However, it was probably one of the best travel experiences we've had.

Part of it is tho is attitude. We learned a few key phrases and words (probably <50) before we left and that generally got us by "self serve". There's generally enough English signs IMO but our guidebook helped us along also. However, whenever we got stuck, we experienced very friendly help. Yes, people were insecure about their English but it was always enough to get the points across.

Haven't had a chance to travel to Korea yet. However, I've had the opportunity to host a few groups from Korea as part of my work. Everyone I met were generally friendly but a bit reserved. Can't really explain it but a bit hierarchical too. Tough to compare tho between vacationer setting vs business setting I suppose.