Originally Posted by
s0ssos
No, you are fine in Japan. Many places have fake food in front, so you can just point to show them what you want (it isn't polite in Japan to look at what other people are eating and ask for that). Some places also have menus with pictures. You'll be just fine.
Korea, on the other hand...
Yup. We were in Japan in the 70s, the fake food worked wonders for ordering. Waitresses always understood when my father wanted to take them outside to point out what we wanted.
The only real English problem we had was one day on the subway, we had gotten lost. We knew how to get home but we didn't know where we were to know what ticket to buy. (We knew what line we were on and which direction to go. However, at least at the time they used zone fares and we had no idea where on the line we were.)
My wife and I were there for a short while something like 10 years ago--and there were no language issues. Her limited ability to read signs (many symbols are common with Chinese) was a convenience but no big deal.
These days I would simply bring a phone with Google Translate.