Two Days Left in Japan - Equipment List

Will be leaving in less than two days. Amber (my sister) is flying back to England on the 8th, so I'll be leaving early in the morning with her, to help her navigate Japan Rail. We're taking a 7:21 a.m. train, connecting in Tokyo Station to the Narita Express, which gets in to the airport just before 11. She'll be going through around 11:30 and my flight to Hong Kong doesn't leave until 6:30 p.m. Aubrie's flight from New York gets in at about 3:30 so that leaves me with about four hours to kill by myself. I was thinking about doing some planespotting from the observation deck (where they even have little gaps in the fence for your camera lens), but it might be difficult as I'll be going down without a coat (which I won't need where I'm going) and it could be a little chilly in Tokyo. Luckily because these flights are in business class (using frequent flyer miles) I get to sit in the lounge if I tire of the in-airport mall. The lounges in Tokyo aren't anything special (I can choose from the Cathay, BA, or AA ones thanks to the oneworld Alliance), but they're good as a quiet place to read and have free drinks.

I just packed everything together to see if it would all fit, and my pack weighs 34 pounds (about 15 kg). The pack is an 85 liter Lowe Alpine Contour III. I'm happy about it because it looks nice, but I took it out on a twenty-minute dog walk and it held up pretty well in terms of performance as well. I had some minor mid-back pain but I'm assuming that's unavoidable, especially when I'm not used to it. Of note- it was also surprisingly comfortable when running....

Because I hope this site will be useful not only to people wanting to know what I'm up to, but also to anyone who's planning a similar trip, or thinking about it, I'll give a quick listing of what I'm bringing with me:

Sony PC350 Video Camera
Contax SL300R Digital Still Camera
2 AC Adapters
USB Cable
10 miniDV tapes
2 128MB SD Cards (hope to get some bigger ones if they're cheap in Hong Kong)

8 T-Shirts
6 Pairs Underwear
1 Pair Jeans
1 Pair Blue Khakis
1 Pair Black North Face Tech-Pants (whose legs zip off to become shorts so I can look cool)
1 Pair Khaki Shorts
2 Linen Shirts
1 Green Long-Sleeve T-Shirt
1 North Face Vaporwick Base Layer Shirt
1 Polo Shirt
2 Pairs Flip-Flops (couldn't decide between black and red so bringing both)
4 Pairs Socks
1 Pair NB Shoes
1 Bathing Suit

Aquis Super-Absorbent Towel
Various Toiletries, including: Dr. Bronner's Soap, Bactine, Anti-fungal cream, Hydrocortizone, 79 tablets Doxycycline (malaria), 30 tablets Cipro, etc etc
North Face Mohawk daypack
Opinel Knife
Sunglasses
Small Moleskine Journal
Small Moleskine Address Book
Travel Alarm Clock (which lights up blue)
Travel Plug Adapters
JAL Eyeshades
JAL Earplugs
Two Pens
Nylon Laundry Bag (to go over the pack and protect it when it's checked in the cargo hold)
Muji Passport/Document Holder, containing: passport, immunization records, international drivers license, credit cards, etc

One or two books
Lonely Planet: Southeast Asia on a Shoestring
Lonely Planet: Southeast Asia Phrasebook
Rough Guide: Laos
Rough Guide: Thailand
Time Out Hong Kong
(these will be divided between Aubrie and I for carrying)

My position on guidebooks is that Lonely Planets tend to be a bit better, but I like the cover design and matte finish of Rough Guides, so I end up alternating. Also, we've only bought country-specific books for the two countries we'll be spending the most time in and the city which isn't covered in the Southeast Asia book, in the interest of keeping the weight down.

One thing I still have to work out is rain protection. I've been told to line my bag with heavy duty trash bags, but this seems like it'll be a hassle when packing and unpacking. I'm considering buying a large, cheap poncho-type thing and placing it over the bag when necessary.

To anyone reading: please let me know if there's anything else you'd like to hear about the preparation part of the trip. I'll talk to you next from Hong Kong, most likely.