Back when I first travelled around Kyushu in 1967 it was steam engines all the way. Some things have changed a lot since then, PAX.
In Hokkaido for example you can see many signs in Russian, and in stations and airports nationwide, there is much signage in Korean and two versions of Chinese, besides English. In the undergound shopping warrens in Tokyo, loudpeaker announcements are made in English, yes, but massively too in Chinese and Korean.
Staff continue to be polite and helpful almost everywhere, with no dragging of feet. They seem to have this strange notion that if you provide good service, people will want to come back again.