As a non-Dutch speaking, non-German speaking, non-Japanese speaking person I found it much easier to live in the EU than Japan. Why - very simple reason, already stated:
European languages share the same alphabet and origins - many of the words in one language are recognisable in another. So for an English speaking person, it is much easier to live in the EU than it is Japan.
Also, it seems more common to me for EU inhabitants to speak English as a secondary (or tertiary) language than it is for Japanese people to speak English.
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If I want to order from a menu, visit the barber, understand the pricing options on furniture in Tokyu Hands, understand a place name, understand what the words on the adverts in real estate agents windows mean etc etc I can confidently say that looking at the shape of the characters did me no good whatsoever.
All examples from my first month here.
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Are you seriously asserting than 1 in 3 Japanese people can hold a conversation in English? If so then I'm living in a different country to you.
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I read that before I came to Japan, but it really not applicable to how English-friendly this is again.
If I want to buy a bed, some shabu shabu, a hair cut, a mobile phone or rent an apartment I don't want to have to get to know the sales person, barber, waitress or realtor before they're confident enough to talk!
If most people who can speak English choose to refuse or are reluctant to - then it isn't very "English-friendly".
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Of course, the number of people who can speak English has a direct bearing on how English-friendly a country is. Kinda obvious really. If most stores, restaurants, barbers, bars etc had one person who could speak English then that would go a long way towards being "English-friendly" for me.
However this is not my experience at all, even in areas with a heavy alien population like Akasaka.