With the officially declared end to the rainy season, I hope everyone is starting to make some earnest efforts to enjoy the summer. Tokyo, and even online expat groups, all seem to quiet down from late July to mid-August, as many people take advantage of school vacations to travel home or elsewhere. Hopefully these (definitely) greener pastures are cooler! However, for those stuck in Japan like me, without the money or paid leave to esacpe for the summer, a trip within Japan can be a fun option.
Trips to Northern Japan (Hokkaido in particular) might provide a respite from the oppressive heat, while a trip to Okinawa, Kyushu, and even Izu penninsula can provide access to some great beaches. However, sometimes airfare and trainfare within Japan can even surpass the price of off-season international flights! While Japan’s major domestic airlines, JAL and ANA, have long offered advance booking discounts (Tokuwari), people without the luxury of planning so far in advance get stuck high and dry.
Well, a new set of discount fares from ANA and JAL might help. Called “totsuzen waribiki” (‘all-of-a-sudden discount’) at ANA and “taiimu waribiki” (‘fire sale discounts’) at JAL, these fares are for
flights booked any time between 10 and 3 days before departure. Both companies have several restrictions on the fares (mostly for weekend departure dates, bookings for two or more persons, and round-trip tickets between the same destinations), and the number of seats on these fares are rather limited. However, the savings can be quite large — with flights from Nagoya to Fukuoka starting at Y9000 (ANA), and Tokyo to Fukuoka at Y10,000 (JAL).
ANA’s homepage clearly shows these fares: a flight on the ANA “totsuzen warikibi” fare from Tokyo to Sapporo on Saturday, July 24, for example, is Y16,300, almost 50 percent off the regular fare of
Y30,300. JAL’s Web site did not show these fares for the Tokyo-Sapporo route, but did show very cheap fares for the Tokyo-Fukuoka route on July 24 — with the lowest price fare at Y10,300 for an early morning flight. This is less than 1/3rd of the price of the normal fare of Y33,300! Flights to Osaka from Tokyo start as low as Y7,300! This is almost Y6000 less than the Nozomi shinkansen fare. Apparently,the discounts apply on different routes to different airlines.
Airline Websites:
JAL: www.jal.co.jp
ANA: www.ana.co.jp
Interested? Have a Japanese friend or partner help you with the online booking process if you’ve never done it before. You don’t have to pay with credit card either — payment is accepted at most
convenience stores using the in-store kiosks. Here’s to wishing everyone great summer travel, wherever you go!
© 2004 Wendy J. Imura.