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.
Travel the world and deal with a whole bunch of things that are done differently than you might at home. That does not make them worthy of rectifying.
In Tokyo, when you arrive at the metro station of your destination there are maps on the walls in many locations in every station showing in Japanese and in English where you are vis a vis each exit. These maps are compete with building names and many other common icons. You decide where you want to and you go out the exit having realized from looking at the map that you need to go X streets up and turn right and then y streets and turn left. Were there street names it would be no different.
Either embrace the adventure of new and different ways of doing things, or get a smartphone and adhere to your plan to not interact with the people f Tokyo, or go somewhere that meets your apparently very critical standards.
Too much good advice has been offered upthread, too much reassurance has been offered. It may be time to just suggest you deal with it as a curious world trekking adult living in the age of smartphones or go elsewhere.