Forget the Rugby World Cup pool stages, emerging from hotels is a challenge in itself

We’d been warned about the trains. Or, to be more accurate, the stations. People with experience of Japan looked on us with pity, like raw recruits being sent over the top to impending doom. Ominous warnings were sounded and tales told of underground labyrinths teeming with commuters and the odd tourist rooted to the spot in awe and confusion.

But, you know what — that’s all been fine. Even the locals admit they need the aid of their smartphones to navigate the spider’s web of routes and destinations. Thankfully that technology has all but removed the need for unwieldy maps, and eliminated those awful moments of bewilderment and sheer terror for those of us just passing through. Translator apps have done much the same for all aspects of life here as a tourist.