I found you a very sincere person, worrying about how you should behave in a country you are about to visit. Other people have already given some sound advice, but let me add some more form a Japanese point of view. (Allow me not to be able to make myself clear as English is not my native language. Please feel free to point it out and ask further questions!)
In Japan, very few people try to take advantage of you because you don't understand them. And when buying stuff from stores, you can see how much it is on the casher, so there is no problem. If you pay in cash, try to get rid of coins first, as you don't need them much. You don't have to tip in Japan, you know. So, if you buy 4,560 yen item, if you have 60 yen, give them to the shop assistant first, and then pay 5,000yen. That's how Japanese people keep their wallet light. Just keep minimum coins of a couple of 10 yens and 100 yens and one 500yen coin is enough.
You seem to be curious about Japanese attitudes towards foreign visitors. In short, when it comes to communicate with foreign visitors, Japanese people are exactly like Parisians but less arrogant as they don't disguise their sense of failure. If they can utter English, no matter how they speak gibberish, they will try to help you, and if they feel traumatic about their English school education, they will neverthaless try to help you with a very polite Japanese language which even a decent foreign resident who's studied Japanese a little and lived a few years in the country find difficult to understand.
So, the best way you can follow is to smile and try to say 'Excuse me'(Sumimasen), 'Thank you'(Arigato), 'I'm sorry.'(Gomen-nasai, Don't worry, Japan doesn't have a suing culture.), 'Hello'(Kon-nichiwa), and 'Good bye'(Sayonara), and speak English very slowly to them. (But not shout loud, they can hear you all right.)
Incidentally, the reason you heard that rude to talk on the trains and frowned apon is probably because American people tend to be very loud comparered to Japanese or even British people. Both British and Japanese tend to be quieter in public, so as not to invade each other's privacy(when they are sober). You probably haven't thought about it as it is a part of your culture, but go and visit a major book store such as Kinokuni-ya or Maruzen, you can probably hear American people making a conversation a few shelves away!
Anyway, don't worry about speaking in English in Japan.Japanese people are very forgiving about non-japanese people not being able to speak their language, on the contrary, they subconsciously feel it threatning if they should encounter a foreigner who is able to speak it flawlessly as they can't boast how Japanese are unique culturally, historically, and linguistically and other nonsense. Try to use those Japanese words I suggested in your conversation, that'll make you a honourable foreign ambassador and everyone loves you.
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