A few weeks ago, a friend visited from Europe. It was her first time in Japan and she wanted to see as much of the country as she could. She had purchased the discount JR rail pass that only foreigners can buy in their home countries, but besides that, all she came with was the Lonely Planet guide to Japan.
It seemed a good idea for her to acquire some English language materials -- maps of Tokyo, train schedules, that sort of thing -- but I didn't know where to acquire them. Neither the telephone book nor directory assistance could help without a specific name of an organization. Eventually, we called a hotel and asked them whom they would contact for such information.
They told us about a tourist information center at the Tokyo International Forum, which turned out to be difficult to find, and even when we did find it, it didn't have all the materials she needed.