Hello all,
It seems that everyone who's new to the game is having more or less the same problem - having his/hers ass kicked by high level enemies.
The reason for this is that the match making system is not really working. I don't know if it's broken, or there are not enough players in the queues but the fact is that 90% of the time you'll end up matched with some level 9 or 10 player who'll destroy you with his elite army.

There's a very simple solution to this problem - Custom Battle. Custom battles allow you to create a game lobby, just like in all other games, give a name to it and set different options such as the funds, map etc. You also get the option to kick people out. So all you have to do is go to Custom Game, create your own lobby, call it something like "For level X to Y only" and wait for people to join.
This way you will play with people your level, train your armies and unlock zones on the map. Once you have gotten to higher level you can go back to the match making system and try to help the clan conquer Japan, and also earn some clan tokens in the process.

Enjoy.