I went to Tokyo a couple of times for different reasons, and was frequently amazed by the people in the street or behind the counter in a restaurant, etc, who would stop and take the time to help me, often in perfect English, do whatever it was that I was failing with!

Yes! I have stories like that from every Japanese city or town I've been to. Easily the most hospitable, kindest locals I've ever encountered while traveling.

Although, I am often surprised by how kind/helpful/generally nice people are when I travel. Even in places like Paris or Glasgow, that have a reputation of being a bit rude or at least reserved toward outsiders.

Yes, this happened to me at the time. Most people had bad English and I had bad Japanese when I went but some of them were very kind.