Prices for hotels in Japan work differently than other markets -- in odd ways. It's not usual to see prices go down as you get closer -- unless something really unusual happens. The other thing is that pricing on Japanese websites can often be substantially different than on the hotel website - before we lived here I would frequently be amazed when my wife could find the Marriott Courtyard Ginza available on a Japanese website for sometimes half of the price of Marriott.com -- and it wasn't just Marriott... Bottom line make a reservation and then keep watching -- but don't be surprised if rates just keep going up. Unlike most US arilines / hotels -- the Japanese are more than willing to let rooms / seats go out unsold versus discounting....