I don't know much about visa requirements but I do know something about hotels. With most major international hotel chains (e.g hilton.com), you can book a stay with a credit card and then cancel later. You have to read the terms and conditions i.e. for heaven's sake don't book a prepaid/nonrefundable rate. The hotel will put a "credit hold" on your credit balance though - roughly equivalent to a night's stay. So you book, print reservation for documentation and then cancel when you no longer need it - the credit hold should disappear in a couple days time.

You can do above for the say, Hilton Tokyo in Shinjuku.

Japan, though, is pretty unique. Most Japanese hotels - you make a reservation by calling them and they take your word that you will show up. No credit card needed to guarantee reservation. In Japan, people still pretty honest and stick to their word.

Congratulations tanoshi.

It's about a kid who is growing up and maturing, findng out more about how adults think/behave, finding out more about life and how things are not always what they seem (in a good way).

No lah, I cheated. I understood only a little so I asked my son.
Good song - inspiring - both my kids enjoyed it. Thanks.

The new skyliner is 2400yen, up from the previous 1920yen. The old skyliner enters service as the CityLiner, MorningLiner and EveningLiner, all at 1920yen.

Me? I'm cheap. I would take the JR Sobu Rapid maybe 1000yen (approx) to Tokyo Sta. The Keisei Line Express is also around 1000yen.

The major bus station in Tokyo is in Shinjuku Sta I think. Taking bus does not give you better scenery than train - highways are dull and there is the definite possibility of traffic jams during peak periods like Golden Week and Obon.

One reason you may want to take an overnight bus from Tokyo to say, the Kansai area, is to save on one night's hotel by sleeping on the bus. Otherwise I think it's a waste of time.

Keisei is a line (i.e. route) as well as a company. There are 2 different rail companies serving Narita: Keisei and JR East. JR has 2 services from Narita: N'Ex and Sobu. Both go to Tokyo Sta. whereas Keisei does not.

Just to provide an update to those interested.

Signed up online, they'll deliver SIM to your address. You specify date/time window. 2890yen for 30 days.

Speeds do seem capped as noted by PsyCHZZZ above to 300kbps but after 2 days of using it - good enough for me.

What do you want to know about USS? I was there 3 weeks ago. Never been to USJ so can't make a comparison.

Right now, USS has 2 major rides either closed or to-be-opened: Battlestar (closed due to technical issues) and Madagascar (to-be-opened). As a result, USS is offering right now one $5 meal voucher and one $5 shopping voucher with every entry.

USS seems small compared to US-Orlando - no iconic rides such as King Kong and Jaws.

The good:
1) Crowds are relatively small now. There were still many visitors (lots seem to be from Indonesia, judging by accents) but nowhere like US in the states. Longest wait in line for me was 30 minutes+ at Jurassic Park Rapids and another ride at Jurassic Park where you zoom around at tree-top level.
2) Donkey Live is perhaps the best attraction. It was fun. The kids rollercoaster opposite the Shrek castle was also fun for kids. The Steven Spielberg action set (called Live-something) was good too.
3) Parking was easy, signposted directions were great. Parking was like $20 though. Light traffic on Singapore roads getting there at 10am

The bad:
1) Crowd control is sub-par compared to every park I've been to (and I've been to many). Food court - terrible crowd management. Cinema-seating attractions - people don't move all all the way to the end of the row etc.
2) The Water World attraction is bad - you cannot hear what the actors are saying and they've made the storyline overly complex for a live action attraction.
3) Backpacks are banned from most rides. I've never run across this in any US park. Fortunately, you can leave your backpack at the side of the platform on some, but not most, rides. Lockers are provided - I believe at no charge.
4) They forced me, an adult, to wear a kid seatbelt at the kids' carousel. At a carousel! No big deal but why all the nanny-control?
5) Parades were small and amateurish - most were photo-ops
6) The rock-and-roll show is snooze-inducing - bad sound and bad choice of songs and did not connect at all with the mostly Asian crowd.
7) Short hours: 10-7pm.
8) No finale-type show with fireworks (a must for a park!)

Tips:
1) No #1 tip: Exploit the single-rider line - takes you to the top of the queue. None of the visitors seemed aware of it or what it is. Single-rider lines are a common feature in a lot of parks where you get to bypass the main line at the expense of being seated singly away from your group. The problem (advantage?) at USS is that the single-rider line shares the express line and by the time you get to the top, they think you have an express pass - so your group sits together anyway.
2) Buy an express line privilege. It's something like $30 extra but so worth it because nobody seems to buy it. It's value is inversely proportional to the supply. When I was there, if you had one, you would have gone to the head of the line in 100% of the case. Not so as say US-Orlando because many people buy it (or get one comped by staying the a US hotel) so the express line also has waits.
3) Get there at opening (called the rope-drop in park parlance). Hit the major rides immediately e.g. Battlestar, Mummy, Rapids, and the one you fly around Jurassic Park. Do NOT hit the cinema-seating ones until you've done the major rides. Cinema-seating rides move a lot of volume over time: you'll always get a minimal wait. Save one major ride for the last 30 minutes of the day when crowds thin. This way, you will not wait long
4) If you want, bring something to eat like sandwiches for lunch. Otherwise you'll waste an hour at lunch due to lines. Bring water and refill at bathrooms (Singapore tapwater 100% potable)
5) If you want souvenirs, don't shop at close because the choices at the exit/entrance of park not as great as the shops at the attractions.

Summary:
An OK park. My kids loved it because kids love anything. As a theme park though, it had many failings. It's like Singapore - good hardware, no software. There is no charm/magic to the park, and it wasn't even terribly efficient by Singapore standards.
My take: go in one year's time and it'll be like HK Disneyland - a ghost-town where everybody's already been there and nobody wants to go again.

Unfortunately, neither D7 (AirAsiaX) nor AirAsia (AX, FD etc) currently have a mileage program. Not sure if they will offer these in the future but still good news - lower fares to KUL for sure.

My guess is tha the upcoming service will either be KUL-HND in the early morning around 6-ish with a turnaround flight HND-KUL in the midafternoon or the reverse: KUL-HND leaving at close to midnight, with early morning service HND-KUL.

HND is a great airport to get to if you live in Tokyo but not great if you are transiting to/from NRT.

My kids grew up with Shimajiro. They learned math + hiragana with Shimajiro.
My daughter still has a bunch of Shimajiro stuffed toys around somewhere.

Natsukashii indeed.

I can tell you for a fact that this is not true. I used to fly 100k miles+ a year with ANA and they're sometimes late just like the rest of them. And I am not talking about weather-related delays. No such compensation unfortunately. Good airlines though, but they've been noticeably cost-cutting like crazy for the last few years.

I learned my Japanese from "okasan to issho" haha "jang jang de..ko..bo..ko..furentsu! <Knock knock!> Ano... ano... sabo sabo desu"

They change the "main" oniisan and onechan every couple of years. The "exercise" niisan and nechan seem to get to stay longer though.
You should try to get your daughter to attend the taping at the studio - I think they film at the NHK Shibuya studios. She may even get on the show.

Another I like is Pitagora Suitchi, especially the "Otousan Suitchi" segment.

When your kids get older (7+), NHK's weekly "Kodomo News" is excellent. I used to watch this every Saturday with my kids. This show explains weekly news events with the help of 2 adults and 3 kids. They just changed the cast of 3 kids; they rotate them out every couple of years.

Saw this on the TV news the other day: NH (ANA) is starting a LCC to fly to other Asian countries beginning of 2011. Maybe Malaysia? Nobody knows which routes yet but the new LCC airline will be based in Kansai (KIX). Doesn't mean they won't fly flights from Tokyo.

My guess is they'll not initially fly to Malaysia (prob. Korea and China routes initially) and wait and see how D7 fares in terms of load.

No. Maybe she means vinegar, which is not alcohol. Asian vinegar is made from alcohol (actually fermented rice) by introducing bacteria, which then turns the fermented rice into ascetic acid = vinegar.

At least for Kanto-area cuisine, no. Mirin (rice wine) is used in only a few dishes, certainly not all. Very similar to how southern Chinese use rice wine.

All Apple products' chargers are multivoltage 100-240V. Just like how most laptop power bricks are multivoltage.

So you don't need a step-down converter. A voltage converter is needed to step-down-or-up voltage. The person who asked the originally question referenced a "7A" limit - first, I don't think the ipad adapter is even close to 7A (7A is a lot[!!] of juice) and second, you don't need a converter - Apple's power adapter is already multivoltage.

What you do need however is a plug/socket adapter (no need to be concerned about amps here). Japan is 2 flat pins, Malaysia is 3-prong rectangular pins.

Just so there's no confusion, here's a quick guide:
1) Plug adapters - what is needed to connect to the wall socket
2) Voltage. Japan is 100V, Malaysia is what? 240V? 220V?
3) Current. Measured in watts or amps (A).

HTH

Thanks - very useful. But I LOLed at the following excerpt:

"The best way to get ANYWHERE in Tokyo: the bullet train, which is in itself a true marvel of speed and innovation."

Happy mid-autumn festival! Anybody eating mooncakes in Japan - geppei - very similar to our Chinese mooncakes but thankfully, without the egg yolk.