[Nyororin]

I wouldn`t think you`d have any trouble getting support in Japan at all. In fact, from what I know about the way they do support, you`ll have a better chance of getting direct maker support with a Mac than with a PC. Macs are standardized world over and generally offer support no matter what country you actually bought the thing in. With a PC there are often a lot of differences between the models even released by the same company depending on what country it was sold in - and support in one country usually won`t touch something sold in another.

If you`re going to be in a city with an Apple store (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo), it will make things even easier.

Every major electronics retailer also offers Apple products and usually repair/support.

I can`t really comment on which would be better to use in a classroom environment, but in my personal experience not many students use a laptop in school. I know a few people who took their laptop to university when they were in a graphics related course, but for normal stuff and presentations I don`t think it`s all that common. It wasn`t a few years ago, and I doubt teacher attitudes and styles have changed all that much.

I say to go for what you like. You shouldn`t have trouble with support in Japan.