If I didn't speak Japanese, I would take advantage of the fact that all Japanese people under the age of about seventy can at least read a bit of English and maybe even understand a few words spoken. If you're trying to make a meal of izakaya snacks, you might try writing down the categories of food that you want (chicken, vegetables, seafood, and then "best") and/or pointing to what other people are eating. The available drinks are likely to be beer (bee-roo), whiskey, and sake ("sah-keh," not "sah-kee"). Prices are pretty reasonable in general, a few hundred yen per item.