To be fair, I do know a FEW other random kanji (for example, exit and entrance signs, some of the directions like east and west, Tokyo, and the most important kanji of all, being the kanji for mizu). As a general rule, though, I don't use Japanese outside of the classroom at all, save the occasional sumimasen, arigatoo, kudasai, and onegaishimasu. Basically, if you know those words, hiragana, and katakana, you can pretty much get by quite well here. It might be a different story trying to make a living here with my level of knowledge, but simply existing is pretty damn easy, really.
I'd say that's about where my reading abilities stand, sadly. 
Hopefully, once I get over there, I'll be able to start picking up things faster. I don't have any real problems with normal conversations or anything, but sometimes things go off in an unfamiliar direction. 
When I was in Tokyo for a week or so in 2001, I didn't come across too many English-speakers, though. The problem was that many people talked too damn fast for me to understand them, but that was three years ago, and I've had three more years of schooling, so I hope that helps me when I get there next week...
