So you didn't really mean signs in English but rather write the Japanese in Roman script?

I do think that this would help a lot with accessibility. My biggest challenge on my first visit to Japan was just this. In Europe, I might not be able to understand what a sign means, but I could generally translate it into sounds, which made things like spotting patterns, or repeated things a lot easier.

In japan, I was hard pressed to realize I was on the same street I'd been on earlier in the day, etc. And, I knew hiragana and katakana at the time, just not kanji.

My thoughts are:

Try to get more places to accept credit cards. Square, which is available in Japan, has made this incredibly easy. Tourist attractions and small shops/restaurants don't accept credit cards which is a huge issue.

Increase the number of places offering wifi, plus making the signup process easy (most places it isn't at all).

Create unified rail passes - for example a JR/subway/private line pass for various areas. This doesn't exist and is a big barrier (usually JR seems to be the problem).

Agree with the WiFi. I don't think credit cards are an issue. I rarely have an issue unlike the US where many newer restaurants especially in the big cities won't take plastic.

Why is unified rail pass so important. What major country of the world has a rail pass that includes all lines including urban subways?

I get it that the Japanese rail system in major cities is kind of hard to figure out with competing private lines, but an IC card solves the fare issues, and you don't really need a pass in many instances. Some tourists seem obsessed with "what pass is best" even to save a few yen on the day.

I think the big thing is simply that most other countries don't have multiple private companies operating the regional transport infrastructure. You'd have one national operator, one local operator, and that's it. Or even in cities like Shanghai where there are multiple companies operating the metro and buses, the fare structure is unified and as far as the passenger is concerned, it's all treated as one entity.

Within the Tokyo metro area, there's a Tokyo Tour Ticket - or "Tokyo Free Kippu" priced at 1,590 yen per day for JR, subways, buses etc.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/tokyo_free.html

For most people, buying a pre-paid SUICA card and paying for individual rides is going to be a better value.

It might be a better value, but the well-designed day passes are quite helpful.

There is no worrying about figuring out the price of train tickets (having to look at a board to find some name), actually buying the thing, and then having to buy tickets again when you got off at the wrong stop.

The price of that one strikes me as a bit steep, but not too bad though.

IMHO, the ticketing system works pretty well but it needs better information in English. When I catch the NEX into Tokyo at NRT, there are often 30 or 40 people lined up at the ticket counter even though the ticket machines (which speak English and take credit cards) have no lines.

Also I do think a fast train to NRT (e.g. Shinkansen type service) would be great and would eliminate the need to use Haneda for international.

That's all solved by just picking up a Suica. No need to ever to look up the price of a metro ride in Tokyo, just tap and go.

I noticed they now have Free Wifi on the Narita Express. Nice. Easy. Works well. How recent is this? Reduces the need to get a SIM card at the airport.

BTW - Why can't they just sell data SIM cards in vending machine at the airport.

Thought I saw an ad (in Japanese) for free wifi on n'ex in 2014...'cept that you needed a local number to access it.

Advertise, particularly on the USA West Coast. Maybe something like:

• Japanese people are friendly (contrast with a rude Parisian)
• Japan is clean (contrast with dirty streets in SF)
• Tokyo is closer than London (well almost, for the West Coast)
• Japan is cheap (compare to NYC prices)
• Japan is safe (compare to just about anywhere ;))

This thread reminds me of the reactions we got when we told people we were going/had gone to Japan. Everyone was confused. "Why would you go there?" Umm, I don't know, because its vastly more interesting than a lot of other places, and we can live on sushi. (Of course it didn't hurt that we used miles & points for 2 C seats to NRT and 4 nights @ Park Hyatt :D)