Even though no official language is clearly indicated by the law, the de-facto official language of Japan is Japanese. This is the language that most people speak, and also compulsory education is run in Japanese.

Language
“English” is also part of compulsory education. However, in general, it is a bit difficult to say whether English is generally accepted. At least, English is definitely more familiar than other languages to the majority of Japanese people. However, recently there has been a significant increase in the number of places with English availability, including customer service. Many guides, as well as menus, are now written in English. English is generally spread enough at least in the travel scenario and to cope with daily conversations between Japanese people and travelers.

Besides English, Chinese and Korean are to some extent available in different scenarios.