Free flights to Japan?

[Super Buu]

http://www.skyscanner.net/news/articles/...ghts.html?

YES. To try and reinvigorate tourism, the Japanese government are giving away 10000 free return tickets to Japan. I was actually planning to head there this year but fucked up on money, so I am defs applying when it opens. We should totally all try and get tickets and have a Chubbs Japan meetup. MIRITE?!

[Kaden]

That's amazing. I'll apply.

[Rebekah]

Same. I'll definitely be applying.

[Anzekay]

1-17 Feburary I am already going to be there.

EDIT: That's before they would likely be starting this, sadly. Alas.

[Sigfried Hunin]

Fuck you, Kuwait.

[Rafael]

That's kinda cool.

[Celena]

I've always wanted to go there so I'd definitely sign up.

[John Doe]

I won't be signing up, so that should give even more incentive for the rest of you.

[Kole T. Merr]

Hell yeah, I'm in

[Waffuru]

It's not a free trip guys, just a flight. So yeah, would cut your costs down but hotels aren't cheap either.

[Sigfried Hunin]

yeah but you can all pitch on a PARTY ROOOOOOM

[Jarka]

Stop being a PARTY POOPER, Waffuru.

[Anzekay]

Depending on where you are, expect something like 3000-7000 yen per night per person at a hotel or traditional inn, and that usually doesn't include food. Also will have to factor in if you are travelling around at all, as travel in Japan seems to be pretty expensive (150ish for a train trip to Tokyo from Kyoto was a number my friend threw at me), or you can get the gaijin only train passes that are about 260ish+ for a week (both those figures are Aus$).

Then there's food, passport, travel insurance, etc. Honestly, flights to Japan right now are actually pretty cheap, so while this is super awesome and all, still be prepared to fork out a good lot of cash. The round trip for me is around 800 Aus which is insanely cheap, but I'm still ensuring I have at least 2.5 or 3 grand to take with me for two weeks.

Anyway, not to be a party pooper, just pointing out things! If anyone wants all the info I've got about travelling there then let me know and I'll hook you up with links. The friend I'm going with has a bunch of friends in Japan so we've been able to get some really good info pretty easily.

[Rebekah]

You just pooped on the party. Way to go...

[Anzekay]

Well the more you know the more you can plan for!

[Ashe]

Someone else linked this to a friend of mine the other day. If the costs seem feasible, I might consider it.

[Josh]

Depending on where you are, expect something like 3000-7000 yen per night per person at a hotel or traditional inn, and that usually doesn't include food. Also will have to factor in if you are travelling around at all, as travel in Japan seems to be pretty expensive (150ish for a train trip to Tokyo from Kyoto was a number my friend threw at me), or you can get the gaijin only train passes that are about 260ish+ for a week (both those figures are Aus$).

150yen is about 2 dollars american, and 3000-7000 is about $40~$90.

[Anzekay]

Sounds about right, I wasn't sure if the US to Yen exchange rate was similar to the Aus to Yen rate. But since it's roughly 1:1 between Us and Aus right now (we're slightly higher last I looked) I guess it makes sense for it to be about the same.

That said, those numbers were only for Kyoto, and only certain parts of it (there was some that were as high as 9000, and this way all for 2 or 3 people per room, it's more for a single person). We haven't ironed out our trip completely yet so that's the only figures I've looked at so far, may be different elsewhere.

[Super Buu]

My hypothetical plans largely depend on whether the tickets are fixed-date or open return. If it's open, I'll stay for a few months and WWOOF as per my previous plan. I'll be saving just in case.

[Anzekay]

If you can you should totally go later in the year so I can go for another trip there while you are.