I had written last year about how English permeated urban Japan. This year I became aware of how many signs in Tokyo have only English, and no Japanese -- not just the advertisements or t-shirts, but signs in hotels and restaurants. For example, the Fine Hotel in Tokyo where I stayed uses the English words "Cloakroom," "Cashier," and "Concierge" to identify those three areas, without appending the corresponding words in Japanese or any other language. To be sure, sometimes the English is not quite right; the Able Associate once referred me to this website that collects examples of offbeat foreign English, such as this one, a sign reading "Entrance for Grope Tourists."
I asked a Japanese friend if it seems odd to him to walk into a Japanese hotel and see signs written only in English, and he said, "Not really. Most Japanese people, except the very oldest, know the English alphabet and can read English words." He may have been being polite; I know that I would think it odd, even if I knew the Cyrillic alphabet, to walk into a hotel in Portland and see signs written only in Russian.