Some tourist guides suggest that young people may be more suitable than older people for communicating in English, such as Wikivoyage's section on communicating in Japan.
While I understand the theory that many Japanese may learn English at school and then lose it, and I also assume that governments like to think that the current English education is better than that of previous generations, I haven't really noticed a strong connection between age and English speaking ability.
In Japan, is English more likely to be understood and spoken by young people compared to old people?