I enjoy figuring out how their system works so it does not bother me. But I tell people who go there for the first time to stick with JR and maybe Tokyo Metro, as the lines a tourist would typically use have simple schedules and all the stops are color-coded and numbered.
For those that have never been to Japan and using Tokyo Metro as an example:
Every metro line has a name and a color. For example: The Asakusa line (A) has a reddish color. The A designation is only used by the Asakusa line and each station has a number.
Higashi-Ginza is A11. It's also H09, because it's also a station for the (gray) Hybia line.
The system is extended to other operators. All Yamanote line stations are JYn, where n signifies the station number.
That (and a Pasmo or Suica smart card, which lets you switch systems seemlessly) makes navigation, even in the Tokyo transit system, which is arguably the most complex in the world, very easy and intuitive.
The same system is applied in every other Japanese city I've visted, alas the system is usually much simpler.
Here in Australia trains are no where near that disciplined about where on platform they stop. Carriage doors can be anywhere so basically as soon as train pulls into station everyone on platform surges towards nearest door.
I was in London in January I found the underground there very confusing. I was doing the typical tourist sight seeing thing and was trying to get from Tower of London to the British Museum I knew the stations were on different lines I knew I had to get to the Piccadilly line but there was a lack of detail as to where to change trains. There were voice announcements on trains themselves "Change here for xxx line" but signage was pretty poor.
There are a range of opinions on this topic. I vastly prefer cash no matter what nation I'm in, and am extremely annoyed when it's not a possibility. Japan and its cash just works. Most situations in other nations that do not admit cash pretend that they function acceptably, but we don't have to look hard to see cracks in the facade.
In London navigational signs are either completely missing or white signs on white tile backdrops so they blend in and are hard to spot (aside from the generic "Way Out" exit signs that don't specify out to where, will I have an escalator/elevator, etc). Electric signs are sparse (maybe one after the gates and one or two only at the ends of the platform)
Tokyo is complicated by the fact that it's actually 10+ different systems run by different, mostly private, companies (JR trains like Yamanote, Tokyo Metro trains, keio, toei, keikyu, keisei, yurikamome, etc etc) so I'm always impressed by how integrated they manage to make it seem.
It sucks that Japan is mostly a cash society, but Apple Pay Suica on iPhone 8 and up helps a lot :)
Singapore does have an amazing subway though, completely world-class.