When I crossed international date line, my dates on my caledar moved one day
When I flew from USA to Japan, my data imput on ical moved forward one date
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), not the cloud just normal ical
It's a bit confusing, as are time zones. 😉
When you had time zone support off, it changed the time of an event as you crossed a time zone to show you what time the event would occur where you are (should have changed every time you crossed a time zone, not just the date line). When you travel back to the original time zone, it would automatically change back.
With time zone support on, you have the option of setting what time zone an event is in when you create the event. Every event should have time zone popup menu. You can create events in Japan's time zone , but also for CDT. Just make sure your MN events are listed with the CDT time zone and they will work. You could turn it off at any time and they should still be correct when you are back home.
For an alternate explanation, check this: