Originally Posted by
joer1212
Actually, the hardest part of navigating Tokyo is going to be when I exit a metro station, and there is no point of reference to know where I am because the streets have no name.
Usually, when I'm in a strange city and exit a metro station, I am very disoriented. So, the first thing I do is look at the street sign and find it on my map. After I identify the street on the map, the rest is easy.
Without the ability to do this, I will be basically castrated. I will be like a clueless wanderer in the desert. 'Landmarks', 'subway stations', etc are no substitute for proper street signage. I understand that this goes back centuries, to confuse enemies, but in 2015, you would think the Japanese would have remedied this by now.
Subway station exits are labeled as exit 1, exit 2, exit A1, A2, D1, etc. Stations have signs indicating which way which exits are. The station concourse will also have a map of the vicinity of the station showing where the different exits are and the nearby landmarks/buildings/streets. If you get a detailed Tokyo map or have access to googlemaps, they will have all the subway exits labeled also. That's how you would orient yourself.