:-)
Well, communicating with Japanese is pretty hard in the first place, no matter how hard you try.
And they said something about them being prohibited by law to pass the chassis nr, according to Babelfish

Some lame-*** excuse if you ask me
I had a trip to Japan planned for next year, but things came up and it will probably be 2007 the earliest.
My source has disappeared into thin air, so I gotta find me a new one to keep us all posted.
Mini Magic, I cannot find any mentioning of an official date, but the photos seem to appear in week 47, so my best guess is the weekend of 19/20 november.
/Bucciali