Using Electronics in Japan

In preparing for my trip to Japan, I realize that I will have to bring a lot of electronic equipment. As part of my project, I will need to bring the following:
Laptop Computer
Digital Camera
Video Camera

For personal reasons, I will be bringing:
Cell Phone (I don't know why since I won't be able to use it in Japan...to be covered later)
Nintendo DS (for the long plane trips)
iPod (I don't go anywhere without my music)

Anyways, all these electronics require power or recharging in Japan. However, the electricity in Japan is a little different than the electricity used in the United States. So, I have some electronic problems to solve.

First of all, in Japan they use 100 Volts while America has about 110 to 120 Volts. After talking with some electrical engineers, folks who have been to Japan, and the local Radioshack guy (whose wife happens to be from Japan and they both go home frequently to Tokyo), I have learned that the Japanese 100 Volts and the US 120 Volts is not that different where I need to worry about my equipment blowing up. At the most, it may take me longer to charge the batteries in my electronics.

With that said, the big difference is in the electrical plugs and sockets. In Japan, they use two (2) flat prongs that are of the same size. In the US, we have the same 2 flat prongs, but sometimes we have plugs that have 2 flat prongs but one prong is a little bit bigger than the other. The different-sized prongs won't fit in a Japanese socket. Also, US electronics sometimes has 2 prongs and a third round pin (sometimes called an Earth pin to ground electronic equipment). Those won't fit in Japanese sockets either. So, I had to buy a simple adapter for about $11 at Radioshack.

Electronic problems solved.