I'm also interviewing for a new position at a new company that would mean more travel to China and less to Australia... STRONGLY considering moving my travel to ANA as this role is paid Biz class on long haul. Will likely still credit to UA but don't want to deal with all the issues on UA operationally and the soft product vs ANA. The times I've been on paid ANA and had a cancellation they've ALWAYS taken care of me in same or better class of service on another carrier - even though I credit mainly to my Mileage Plus account

Local to me out of LAX I have ANA connections to Narita and Haneda - Haneda being great for shorter Asia trip connections with easier connections to China - plus the late night flights from LAX to Japan mean I spend less time on a trip but same amount of days in meetings. Asiana also quite good. SQ is kind of a pain as I rarely need to go that far south except when I go to Malaysia and it's quicker to connect through Haneda on that.

Out of IAH it is a wee bit more difficult! Either way you look at it you can move to OneWorld and do more with JAL and CX (via DFW or LAX) or if you stay with Star Alliance it means still flying UA to get to another * Carrier US origination point. CX is REALLY good and worth crediting points to them with Marco Polo Club vs AAdvantage as upgrades from J to F are easy (some intra-asia routes, fare pay ups are not obscene either) - F on CX is phenomenal. They have been my backup Intra-Asia carrier for years when I can't get a Star Alliance flight.