MissUssH,
First let me say that the restaurants in Epcot are probably going to be your easiest to figure out. The park closes at 9pm each night with the Illuminations show. So the Japanese restaurant you asked about should be open until then and some diners will be slower at finishing and will be walking out of the park after Illuminations is over. When you call for your PS, just ask the latest seating time you can have.
The other parks are alot harder. Especially MK with all its changing hours and shows (Wishes and Spectro) is ALOT harder to guess at days of the week and times of day to make a PS.
I know how you feel, I just complained (not in a mean way) to a CM the other day about this policy.
I think disney is such a big company now that one arm of the octopus doesn't know what the other 7 arms are doing. LOL
I've had to use past info. such as the other posters have mentioned but I still am waiting to see if Wishes is going to make me change my park days and therefore some of my PS's also.
Then, you add in trying to get the room discounts. And choosing a resort. And trying to choose an area of your chosen resort. Then trying to figure out what events are going to affect any given time of year (MNNSHP, F&W, Super Soap, etc......) Oh, yes and we can't forget airfares and car rentals. I'm sure I'm forgetting ALOT more things that factor in.
Planning our first trip to Paris last year was a piece of cake compared to WDW!
Planning a disney trip IS rocket science!
(Hey, that line is a Perfect tag! LOL)
Rhonna