lax to nrt $235 o/w on ua. good deal.

also see NY and DC to tokyo for $275 one way....geeeee never the deals from hnl

i want to go!

emd, do your recon trip before the biggie in april. lol.

ht, you are right, never any good deals from hi. what can we do about it?

don't laugh too loud - I might just do that in January if the rates are this low and if I am low on work.

don't forget, you need to buy your tkts by 12/26.

travelocity has hnl-nrt roundtrip for $474+

that fare was ua also.

You can also earn 5000 bonus miles for flying UA to Osaka, completing travel by Jan. 31.

Also, if you fly from D.C. you can earn 2500 bonus miles.

14154 miles roundtrip IAD-ORD-KIX
+5000 bonus
+2500 bonus
-----
21654 miles

emd, the bonus miles offer was Oct 5 thru Feb 5. Gives 5000 bonus for second roundtrip. 8000 bonus for third roundtrip and 10000 bonus for fourth roundtrip.

There is a similar offer for California, Oregon, Washington, but the bonus goes from 1000 for 1st trip to 8000 for 8th trip.

mrw, thanks for the info, but jp just too cold for me right now. but nice fare, especially for ua.

what a year for papa joe. i think psu will kill fsu, give the hachi.

Wow. That will get me enough miles for another RT FF ticket to Japan. That in itself is enough to entice me at that rate. I am thinking seriously about this. How short a trip do you think I could reasonably do - a week w/two weekends? I think I can swing that.
The bigger issue for me is how to pitch it to my better half, considering that Jan. is the month I am supposed to come up w/my 2006 business plan for getting more new clients and start actually getting the cleints. And there is also that little distracting fact that I am already going to Japan in April. But I can figure that one out I think. I am pretty resourceful.

OK, this is sounding good. But where do I go. I'd like to go somewhere I wouldn't go with my kids on each of their introductory trips in 2005 and 2006. I feel comfortable enough now w/Japan that I could just get plane reservations and hotels and do a bit of research and wing it from there I think. Ideas on where to go from KIX for a week in January?

Would appreciate a quick reply, because I am leaving home on Dec 26th for AZ for a wk. so I gotta work this out really fast and work fast on my DH.

Where would you go from KIX for a long week in January?

p.s. It would be late January as I need to be in D.C. on 1/19; I am hosting a dinner for a retiring colleague.

Last January, I visited Kanazawa and Shirakawago and then Tokyo for sumo. Maybe you'd be interested in going to Koya-san?

Temps in Okinawa would be 55 to 65 F.
Visit an onsen in Fukui or Ishikawa-ken enroute to Kanazawa.
Or a visit to Kurashiki.

Kyushu. Visit Beppu for the hot springs. Saga prefecture, between Fukuoka and Nagasaki is famous for ceramics. You can take a tour of a couple of pottery towns and visit an onsen. Just down the rail is the onsen at Unzen.

mrw: I recall those pictures you took o that couple in Takayama in snow up to their eyeballs. BRRR. I am getting enough cold in N. VA right now...

But the others sound tres interesting. Esp. the ceramic tour and onsens. Okinawa might be a good place to do a business plan. I like the idea of doing the biz plan in Japan, and after I get it done I can tie 100 of those good luck charms on a string hanging somewhere before I depart.

This is starting to shape up. Thank you for the suggestions. I have an idea: this will be my Christmas Wish. How can mr. emd turn that one down.

emd:
Hope the DH goes along with your plan....make him go along
The Hotel Granvia in Kyoto is having a 50% off 3 nite stay sale in late January. 16429 yen per nite in late Jan for a superior city view room...a very good rate. Check their hotel website for details.
Then you can give us a review of the hotel before we get there in March
Hope it all works out for you!
Aloha!

Thanks, hawaii, but this will be a modest trip re accommodations if I can swing it...much more modest than that...and I will completely skip Kyoto since I am going back there in April.

I am putting in 1/21 and return 1/10, IAD - KIX, and I am getting fare of $931. So my dates are too late for the low fares it seems...I can't leave til after 1/19, I have to organize this colleague's (close friend) retirement function.

I meant to say returning 1/30

i tried nagoya and narita too, late Jan and all of Feb - no deals.