The Japanese are too shy to speak English
For those that don’t travel very often, here’s a surprising piece of knowledge: not everybody speaks English. Shocking, right? And sure, countless countries have English lessons in school from elementary all the way up to college, but it’s not like many people pay attention in class. Can you speak Spanish/German/French/Mandarin/etc. after just four or five years of studying in middle school?
However, those that can speak English might be unwilling to do so. This is probably out of fear of using improper grammar or something, which is totally not a problem for most tourists. So, before you pack up and travel to the Far East, try and memorize a couple of lines in Japanese. You won’t understand their response, though.