Eh. The only times I ever had trouble navigating Japan's public transit were finding bus stops, Shinjuku Station, and one (actually two) random stations in between Kyoto and Osaka. Busses are shit the world around (and most of the highway buses double up with train stations where an attendant will gladly explain what random corner to stand in), Shinjuku Station is an eldritch horror that NOBODY can navigate, and Google to this day does not realize those are two different stations and they have a lot of duplicated named lines.

But yeah. People very much underestimate US public transit... inside cities (and on the East Coast). Most I have used take the approach that if you use one system enough times in a day/month (via a card or single credit card) it just auto-buys you an unlimited pass for that period.

I've stayed in Shinjuku for probably closer to two or three months than not over the past decade. LOVE the area and never have a problem finding my train no matter how out of it I am. But I have also NEVER managed to actually find the exit I want and invariably end up just exiting out to the street and walking around the station to get where I want to go. And locals I know have had similar complaints where they either luck out and their train drops them off in front of the exit they want or they just pretend they are going shopping before going home.