As far as I know even subway is operated by different companies? it's no wonder he got lost.
Le contenu de cette page est en Anglais. Pour afficher la page en Anglais, cliquez ici
We bought the JR pass in a tourism office at the airport (Tokyo Haneda). It's really practical. You can use the pass for both regular lines and Shinkansen trains. All you need is just to show the pass to the staff at the electronic gates. But for Shinkansen, you need to reserve the seats first. And JR is very tourist friendly. Most of their staffs can speak fluent English and their timetables and station names are in both Japanese and English.
Speaking about Moscow metro, I've seen several videos about it. Even though the trains look old, the stations look beautiful. Even the narrator in the video said "visiting a station in Moscow metro is just like visiting a museum". But what seem to be a letdown would be the station names aren't always written in the platform and a lot of things are in Russian.
Oh, I did not now JR has gotten accommodated to tourists who speak English 
great to know!
Moscow subway is truly an art. Every station is unique in some way. ^_^
Well, these days there are EN announcements for every station on most of the lines, most of the trains had been replaced with modern ones which display names in English, and maps inside show names in English. In any case, if you have any trouble reading signs - just go to the map which is located in the very centre of every station - it has names both on EN and RU.
Btw, about 3 years ago they started to use "special trains" which are decorated. On grey line, the line I live on, we have "Soviet Union cartoons", "Russian wildlife" and "Russian Air Forces" trains. On the blue line where my University is located we have "WWII" (it's a very important part of Russian history), "Art gallery" and "Shakespeare" trains. Also there are "Books", "Russian movies" trains and probably some more which I've never seen :"D
Speaking of trains. Give me your best 'train story'. What is the weirdest thing you've encountered on a train?
Russian Air Force and WWII trains? Cool! I've always enjoyed learning about WWII and a big fan of Russian air force planes.
Weirdest thing so far? "No durians allowed on board". Singapore MRT.
Speaking of trains. Give me your best 'train story'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHkKJfcBXcw
TomSka is awesome
Speaking of trains. Give me your best 'train story'. What is the weirdest thing you've encountered on a train?
I don't think I have one… At least I cannot remember it that easilly. But if I do I'll make sure to post it here.
Russian Air Force and WWII trains? Cool! I've always enjoyed learning about WWII and a big fan of Russian air force planes.
You should really consider learning Russian if you like learning about WWII. This is such an important part in Russian history that 1\3 part of final Russian history exam is devoted to it. It even has separated name, not WWII.
You don't have train stories?! I have tons. From an emegency stop where the conductor chases away geeze to people breaking up with their boyfriend over the phone. But my favorite is by far the following story I will share with you now.
It is the year 2015. We have quiet areas on the larger trains and I always sit there to read in peace. Now one morning (07:15) a drunk man enters the quiet area yapping about anything and everything. Of course he chose to sit in my booth next to the girl in front of me. I dive into my paperback and make no eye contact. The drunk man rumbles on, shouting. "It's too quiet in here!". As soon as I hear the train slow down, I make way to the front of the train. The drunk man grabs my arm and asks: "this running to Amsterdam? I'm visiting my mum in the hospital". I nod and run, followee by the other girl. (I didn't want to risk him having a knive)
Shessh that's a scary story O_O"
I hardly listen to people on train… I'd have gotten insane already if I hadn't had my headphones always with me.
Well, I kinda remembered how small kid sat next to me when I was watching the very first trailer for Ace Attorney 6 on Japanese. He watched it too but when he saw Japanese characters appear on screen he first looked at my face, then at the screen, and then back at my face. I suppose he was just confused XD
Learning Russian would of course take a lot of time for me, since my native language is barely related to Russian, so far I only know that we say "two" similarly (dva and dua). I remember watching this year's V-Day parade and when listening to the announcer, commanding officer, and president Putin talking, I was also busy thinking "how the hell did those ancient Slavs come up with such a complicated language?" But I can read Cyrillic, at least. Besides, our country doesn't corporate much with Russia. We buy planes, weapons, stuff, and that's it. Never seen any places offering Russian lessons, either. And really, a separate exam for stuff about WWII? Wow. We mostly learn about the ancient Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic kingdoms, the time we were occupied by foreigners (the Netherlands, Britain, Portugal, and Japan), total independence from Japan, surviving the Dutch and British aggressions after the declaration of independence, and political stuff. We were taught a lot about those stuff that I honestly got a bit bored.
***
Heather, what an experience you got there. I hardly ever ride on trains here, since the commuter trains go to Jakarta and cities and towns along the way, not around the city.
Why so complicated? Look at me - some of us never look for easier ways in life. X"D (referencing my choice to learn Japanese)
Oh, so now way to learn it for yourself unless you do everything by yourself? What a shame 
Wow, no wonder you got bored. Tbh many of my groupmates got bored of this WWII stuff we've been taught at school because there was TOO MUCH OF IT. I guess I just had a great teacher who taught us it in more interesting way.
I've seen some "Russian for Beginners" books, though, so maybe the best way to learn right now is buy the book, group with friends who also want to learn it, and maybe look for guides online. I also learn Arabic at school, and heck, you need to be focused to understand the grammar. And speaking about WW2, last time I learned about it at school was when I was on 9th grade. We had a great teacher. And now, even though we go back to the whole independence and political stuff, our teacher also teaches in an interesting way, so I'm not totally bored. Maybe the reason why we are not taught a lot about WW2 is because it didn't give us a huge impact.
Longpost warning.
The Japanese took our lands from the Dutch and Allies in 1942 and only till 1945 shortly after they surrendered. But the Japs left us a legacy - they created a grouping system for houses in villages that is still used today. And they gave the nationalists some breathing room. PM Koiso, who replaced Tojo, promised us independence to gain more support from us against the Allies. But then Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened, and the Soviets took Manchuria, so independence came earlier. He promised us August 24 1945, but we could declare independence on August 17. But then the Dutch army went total "muh clay" and attacked us with Britain's help. Lucky for us, UN members condemned the attack and even USA threatened to stop giving money for the Netherlands, so they stopped and finally recognized our independence in 1949.
Heather, what an experience you got there. I hardly ever ride on trains here, since the commuter trains go to Jakarta and cities and towns along the way, not around the city.
I'm on a train (almost) everyday. So I've encountered quite a lot of 'things'. Last week there was a soccer finale of sorts. So all trains were full with the most asocial people I've ever encountered. Leaving litter everywhere, all yelling, banging their fists on the ceiling… a boombox in the quiet area!? Top that off with a broken airconditioning and you'll be lucky you won't vomit from the humid beer smelling air.
Extreme football fans are different here. They either take the angkot or some trucks and they would bring their club's flag and sometimes singing their "war cry" during the trip. And they pretty often fight with rival fans. Sheesh, extreme football fans are always toxic to the community.
Think all of them leave a trail of destruction behind. Why can't they behave like a civilized people?!