Preparing for the trip to Japan

To do:

Buy something local so I can give small gifts (found some very cute postcards at Porter Square Books)
Buy yen
Print out details about the Big Heart award* (I'm transporting the actual award plaque because the presenter is already in Japan)
Print out airline e-ticket information so that the TSA people have something to scribble on
Figure out how to get to my hotel in Narita
Figure out how to get from Narita to my hotel in Yokohama
Figure out how to get my digital camera out of movie mode
Post my itinerary here for safe-keeping
Find a hotel in Tokyo for the last day of my trip** (everything else is set.)
Get a color print cartridge (to enable printing)
Print out maps of the areas around various hotels
Pack
Find a bathroom scale so I can weigh my bag ***

Edited to add: itinerary has now been posted, and I booked a hotel room for the last day.

The Big Heart Award is given to someone who's being recognized as being generally helpful and nice. It's a fannish thing.

I'm not worried about this--there are lots of hotels in Tokyo, and even a reasonable number of inexpensive ones. I've got a query in to one hotel, and I expect to hear back from them by tomorrow; if that one's full, I have another prospect that allows internet booking, and if that falls through, I'll just call around when I get there.

The group tour I'm on ends up in Osaka, and we're being flown from there to Narita when the tour ends. The problem is that, while ANA's international flights allow you to check two 23kg bags, their domestic flights only allow one 20kg bag. I have a duffel bag that will fold up to fit inside my one big bag, but I want to know about how much things weigh before I leave so I'll know how close to the limit I am before I start buying things; if necessary, I can pack the smaller bag with what I need for the last couple of days and just send the big bag to the airport to wait for me. There are many package-delivery services in Japan, and it's quite common for suitcases to travel separately from their owners.

Things to do in Tokyo

I'm going to have most of one day in Tokyo to myself after the tour ends. I'm trying to figure out what I should do. Possibilities:

Tokyo Tower. The Lonely Planet guide book says that it's a tourist trap these days. On the other hand, it's appeared in so many anime that I may have to go. Also, I just checked out their website, so I see that there are a bunch of little shops and restaurants (including the Tokyo Curry Lab, which babelfish insists on translating as Tokyo Calais Lab), and then there's Statistics Plaza: "This space is provided to acquaint more people with statistics by introducing the history of statistics and statistical data." I may not be able to resist.

Tokyo Tower is in the Roppongi district, so I could go there and then to the Mori Art Museum, which looks very cool, and which includes admission to Tokyo City View, from which I can look down on Tokyo Tower.

Or, I could go to the Ikebukuro area, and visit the Japan Traditional Craft Center (some nice displays, but more of a working resource than a museum), and Sunshine City (contains Sunshine 60, another really tall building which was featured prominently in the manga/anime X/1999, as well as the Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium, which is apparently a food court devoted entirely to gyoza).

Vaguely near Sumida, there's the Edo-Tokyo Museum (history of Tokyo) and the Fukagawa Edo Museum (recreates a 17th century Edo neighborhood).

In the Odaiba area, there's the Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, which is apparently going to be closed on all the days when I'm in Tokyo, so never mind), a giant ferris wheel, the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, a hot springs theme park, and a couple of giant shopping malls.

Other suggestions are welcome.