I just went on family vacation in Japan, and my level of Japanese was utterly useless.
I've been learning for almost 3 years. Practiced daily, finished Wanikani, learned grammar, reached level where I can read manga with only some dictionary help.
Turns out, that contrary to some weird stereotypes, Japan is super friendly towards foreign tourists. I mean - I can read most simple commands, even in Kanji only. Stop. Exit. Don't Enter. But ALL simple commands are also spelled in English (then Korean, then Chinese). Bothered to learn Kanji for 御手洗? Useless, the letters "TOILET" are also everywhere. Most shop clerks seeing white tourist didn't even bother and started conversations in English. And for the purpose of servicing customers it was very good English. Public transportation super readable without knowing a single word in Japanese.
What was not translated in English was usually big walls of text like planks on some monuments or something. Written in Kanji stylised to handwritten, probably lots of Proper Names, I am probably still years away from deciphering those. Also plain advertisement posters were surprisingly hard, probably too out of context, relying on some wordplay.
For all my trouble I got one small talk with some older ladies.