Japan is amazing - you should visit it, especially if you love the culture. I've had a misconception that navigating Japan's subway would be a nightmare, in fact it couldn't be farther from the truth. My one and only problem was finding a ticket station to get my ICOCA card (you should get it too btw, or a similar one) in Osaka (KIX) airport and finding a station; and I've managed it, so you will too. Believe me. Apart from that, there were some misunderstandings to where the tracks that I needed were, but it happened only once or twice. Considering I didn't know much and I don't know Japanese, it was extremely easy. There are trains running from major airports to the center of major cities (and the other way around). In general you can treat any train station in Japan as a metro station - there isn't much of a difference. Think of it as one big system. And don't worry: there are different companies operating these stations and lines, but it doesn't matter in the slightest. I wish other countries would use the same approach for train transportation, it makes going around a breeze. I've used Google Maps to get around - and it was very reliable, it knows which trains and exits you need to take pretty good. About the cards: You should 100% get a transportation card, such as ICOCA, SUICA or PASMO. This is Japan's card to pay for metro and trains, it covers 99% of your transportation needs (apart from shinkansen and long distance trains). You can even use it to pay in shops and restaurants (almost everywhere...). I haven't used my credit card once in Japan. And as far as I know, you can get a virtual card on an iPhone. One more amazing thing is that every Japan train or metro station has free and clean toilets, extremely useful for tourists. Fun fact: some train/metro stations even have ice cream vending machines: a relief on a hot day. There are drinks and coffee vending machines everywhere, as you might already know.