The “Tanuki Corpus” seems to follow the “Kanji in Context” Kanji order and has over 7000 example sentences.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HVIT2JHQ

UnZip and open as a spreadsheet

I like that IKB1 has a lot of exercises, which the Kanji Odyssey books lack. It gives you a chance to play with the words and challenge your knowledge.

I’m not so thrilled with the sort of random-seeming order it picks for introducing the kanji. I prefer KO’s method for introducing kanji in groups of five much better. But that’s probably because I’m used to it.

For news gathering, I might leave the 3rd lens out, and keep the tele and the 17-55. (The 17-55 is my bread and butter lens.)

I covered a news conference the other day, recording it with one hand and shooting photos with the other hand. The bard was handy for that to keep my gear dry in the rain.

Looking back at this post, I’m laughing. I bought way too much crap, but some of it is really useful stuff. Like the carabiners, the hangers with the clothespins on the ends, the microfiber towels, and the sink plug. Oh, and those packing bags that you can suck all the air out of. Those are handy, too.

The umbrellas you get at conbinis aren’t worth 300-500 yen. I tried that in Kyoto and was miserable. I’d recommend bringing a cheap rain suit or a poncho. Nothing fancy, just something cut for Westerners. I’m 6′1″, so the stuff they had was tiny. That, or get a nice big umbrella over here that collapses.

I don’t know about the mysterious travel soap. I don’t think you really need it, unless you’re staying in dorms. Even then, you can get soap at grocery stores or conbinis. If you’re staying in hotels, they usually have big dispensers of soap right by the shower.

Most of the coin laundries in Japan will automatically dispense detergent into the machine when you use them, so unless you’re washing a lot of stuff in the sink, you don’t need to bring Woolite, either.

But I wholeheartedly agree on the stain stick. Those things rock.

As for gadgets, I’ll always carry some with me. My laptop has since died, and I replaced it with a 3.3 pound Vaio. I’ll never carry a heavy laptop again. That was miserable. But I like writing when I’m in my hotel room, and I need to keep up with what’s going on. I also use it as a place to dump photos, too.

If I can get an unlocked iPhone, that will solve most “gadget” problems. I love my iPhone… to bad I can’t use it overseas without going into a money coma.

@David:
I can’t use in-ear phones, because I have inner ear problems. My otolaryngologist specifically warned me to avoid that type of earphone because of the damage they can do.

So the Bose headphones were the best compromise for me. Even if I didn’t have inner ear problems, the idea of jamming things into my ear canals doesn’t equal pleasure in my book.

Bose prices tend to be pretty outrageous, but the headphones work really well for me. I’m half deaf anyway, so I’m not too concerned about what I’m missing. I just need something to kill the noise, because the noise itself will give me a migraine.