My family is flying to Japan from the US in December. We all have US passports but according to the Japanese websites you also need to show in/out bound plane tickets. However, my husband is a pilot and we fly stand-bye. Is there anyone that has had to do this or knows for sure if this is ok? I have called the Japanese Consulate in DC as well as locally in Anchorage, but they barely understood me let alone seem to know their own requirements.

When I have flown standby to Europe we are "listed" on the flights we are trying to get on. I would think your husband's airline would know the answer to this.
Have you checked the flights for availablility/feasibility even. Surely you've done this before.

At last check, Japan has never been part of the United States even when the US administered Japan after World War II.

You may have better success obtaining answers for this question on the ASIA forum because it attracts people knowledgable about Japan, and potentially on the AIRLINES forum because there may be travelers similar to you who can answer the question.

Agree - these boards are sorted by where you are traveling to - NOT where you live.

And you need info about Japan - which people here are unlikely to give you any sort of definitive answer on. Agree that your husband's airline should have this info.

Travel boards, no matter where they are located can give you an experience or an opinion. Whether is is true/fact for the question asked is just not really reliable. The airline can answer it.

In these days of electronic tickets I have no idea what "need to show in/out bound plane tickets" means.

Give me 5min on a computer and I can whip up an itinerary that looks like it comes from an airline and say's I'm flying around the world first class, but it's not worth the paper it's printed on.

You don't think they put that IN a computer and check your itinerary? Internationally? Really!!

Agreed - If I had a fake itinerary and they checked it, it would turn up as bogus. But who here has been asked to show proof of a return ticket when flying to Japan, and who asked to see that proof?

The pilot husband needs to find out from his employer how to do it.

The immigration officer can demand that proof.

Did you know that you are required to carry your passport with you while you are in Japan?