Whenever you need to get to a shop or find someone’s house it should be quite easy, just look up the address. Not so in Japan, sure the addresses are written down fine but none of the streets are actually named so finding a place involves giving really dodgy directions.

For example:

“Go out the west exit of the station.”
“Follow the platform until you get to the escalators”
“No no, the other escalators”
“Go down the road for a while”
“If you see an old grey cat with eyes that are two different colours, turn around”
“When you get to the fire station at the crossroads turn left”
“Take 5 paces forward”
“Sidestep to your right”
“Tell the man you are on the quest for the sword”

and so on..

It is just ridiculous, I can’t understand how anyone gets anywhere without an intimate knowledge of the area. I suppose it does give the police officer sitting in his koban all day something to do, other than asking foreigners for their gaijin cards.