Which Country Should I Buy a Laptop In?

Hi everyone,
I'm currently in the process of moving to Japan this summer and was wondering if anyone out there can let me know if I should just bring my current laptop with me or buy a new one in Japan? I was also thinking about buying a new one anyways as mine is starting to bite the bullet...

Question:
1. Would I have issues playing movies or installing games on a laptop that was purchased in North America region?(whether I keep my current one or buy a new one; location: America) Not sure if there is any sort of "region locking" with games/movies through the CD/DVD/Blu ray drive. Same question, but with software in general.

2. I'm not sure if buying games online (like Amazon) would prevent me from getting ones I already purchased in the U.S. Because when connecting to amazon in Japan it forces it to amazon.co.jp where you would have to have a separate account from the amazon.com

Thanks!!
(日本語がわかります！)

I'm currently in the process of moving to Japan this summer and was wondering if anyone out there can let me know if I should just bring my current laptop with me or buy a new one in Japan?

Are you mac or pc? Also, will you need to do a lot of typing in Japanese?

I was also thinking about buying a new one anyways as mine is starting to bite the bullet...

Windows computers are in Japanese with Japanese keyboards. This may be a benefit or a curse depending on your usage.

1. Would I have issues playing movies or installing games on a laptop that was purchased in North America region?

No, you may need to switch the region of your dvd drive, or just buy an external drive to use with Japanese movies if you tend to switch between playing different region dvds. Drives are cheap, roughly 2000-3000 yen.

Not sure if there is any sort of "region locking" with games/movies through the CD/DVD/Blu ray drive.

Its only a issue for DVDs. North America and Japan are the same region for Blu-ray. PC games and cds aren't region locked.

Same question, but with software in general.

A minor issue with some software is that it will only install in your OS's native language even if English versions are available. Other than, troubleshooting a computer in Japanese can be a huge PITA.

2. I'm not sure if buying games online (like Amazon) would prevent me from getting ones I already purchased in the U.S.

Downloadable games? I think you can still dl them through the amazon.com dashboard.

Because when connecting to amazon in Japan it forces it to amazon.co.jp where you would have to have a separate account from the amazon.com

You can sign in to and purchase things from amazon.com in Japan.

Japanese softwares are designed on Japanese-edition OS. So, there is no guarantee, if you use them on English-edition OS.
if you want to play Japanese games, you may buy a new computer in Japan, because you can understand Japanese.
if you buy in US a computer of a Japanese company like Toshiba, Toshiba in Japan will not help you to chage your computer OS from your English-edition to Japanese-edition.
if you have many oppotunities to write(type) in Japanese, Japanese-edition computer is easier to use.