We have an exchange 2003 environment in the United States and our parent company has exchange 2007 in a seperate forest in Japan. I was wondering if there would be any advantage or if it's even possible to integrate the two systems. I have thought about synching GALs but one hurdle that comes to mind is the translation from kanji to english and vise-versa. To me this doesn't seem possible to do in automated fashion.Does anyone else have to deal with this type of scenario?

With the two separate forests you won't be able to join their Exchange organization. You should review the following document:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996010.aspx

There is no build in function in Exchange or AD that allows for GAL sync.You must either use ILM/MIIS/IIFP from MSFT, or buy a 3rd party product that do the same (example is SimpleSync http://www.dirwiz.com/products/)Its even possible to build script or software that do the same.With a complete GAL you open up for more functionality such as syncing Free/Busy. For that you need additional software such as MSFT InterOrg utility http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238573lasse at humandata dot se, http://anewmessagehasarrived.blogspot.com