www.jtbusa.com/enhome/
If you're looking for hotel deals in Japan, it seems you're better off getting out of the country first. A weekend of frantically trying to locate Tokyo hotels with vacancies turned up a lot of discount sites, few of which were really cheap and most of which were difficult to traverse. A big exception was also the biggest surprise: Japan Travel Bureau. Japan's largest travel agency, which isn't known for getaways on the cheap, has a U.S. site that's filled with bargains. Go figure.

shop.knt.co.jp/quick/joint/jt/top.htm
The other surprise site in der Spudmeister's hotel search was the first visited -- The JT Hotel Network. It was actually easier to use than JTBUSA and its hotel and ryokan listings offered accommodations not found on other sites. Plus, the vacancy checks only took seconds.

www.spalding.com/products/spalding_soccer.html
Maybe some of you will think that I'm including this URL because it kind of ties in with the World Cup, which will be held here in Japan (and South Korea) in June. But probably most of you aren't that stupid. It's a link to an American sporting goods maker, Spalding, that decided to add technology to soccer balls. The result is an expensive ball with a built-in pump. Now that's handy!