I left a tip in my hotel room as I was checking out. It wasn't much, mostly loose change (esp. those damn little aluminum 1 yen coins), but I'm a creature of habit.

And yes, I always tip the maid in an American hotel. Only seems right.

And FWIW, when I stayed at the New Otani the young-ish bellboy rolled my bag from the front desk up to my room (just the one bag which I could have handled just fine), he wanted to chat about America. I slipped him a 100 yen note and he didn't flinch, just took it.

I found the non-tipping in restaurants to take a lot of un-training. I kept thinking they would run down the street after me with a knife. Once you get used to just paying "sticker price" for a meal, it's very liberating. I think a lot of bowing and thanking from a gaijin gets you a lot of brownie points.