I've previously made some comment on how Japan has influenced costume design in Star Wars but I was dumbstruck when a friend let me know that the Star Wars saga was largely influenced by Akira Kurosawa and more specifically his movie's 'The Hidden Fortress' and 'Yojimbo'.
This comment from an online article I just read through:

Star Wars owed much to The Hidden Fortress in its inception. Lucas' original script was basically just a remake for Fortress, although even in the final edit many concepts from the film still remain.

The article explained specifically how this movie and Yojimbo influenced Star Wars and also what other influences Lucas had.

10 of us Star Wars freaks (well some of us anyway) went to the very 1st screening of EP3 worldwide this morning at just after midnight. IMHO the movie was the best of all the Star Wars movies, with mind-blowing special effects and action that left me feeling pretty exhausted. Fortunately, it wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be, with Anakin's turn to the dark side as well as the Jedi's demise happening pretty quickly. The only 2 reservations I have about the movie are firstly that Anakin's fall to the dark side wasn't believable enough as after he stopped Mace Windu killing Chancellor Palpatine and Palpatine's subsequently offed Windu, Anakin immediately pledged himself to Palpatine and henceforth started eliminating his former Jedi friends. Seemed a bit unrealistic. And secondly, that there wasn't much of the Wookies in the movie - I was hoping for a bit more action on Kashykk.
Just a couple of asides: the Clone Wars Parts 1 & 2 animated series is a must-see for Star Wars die-hard fans and also check out this fan film (it's set between EP3 & EP4).

I managed to get some tickets for EP3 for a group of us for the very first showing worldwide (that's one of the perks of living in New Zealand ;-) Just a tip for locals, if you get a group together (10+) to go to Reading Cinema's The Palms, the tickets are $10 each!

Was reading through an email I got from a Star Wars mailing list I subscribe to and found out this interesting piece:

the artist looked to the Ralph McQuarrie-designed stormtrooper suit, which itself had been inspired by samurai armor

According to the same article, apparently the new Clone Commando is also partly inspired by the ninja. So those of you who are Japan buffs, here's some interesting trivia for your friends :-)
BTW if you do read Japanese, there's now a Star Wars Japan website for your viewing pleasure!