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Japan Domestic Flight Tips
With a little bit of planning and preparation you will find that travelling within Japan is an easy and fun experience. The following tips will help you get good prices on your domestic flights and streamline your journey to the tour start point in Miyazaki.
Book discounted domestic flights online
There are 2 airlines you can use for your domestic travel in Japan, JAL and ANA. Both of them have similar prices, policies, and English websites that you can use to book.
The fares vary greatly in price, depending on the type. The discounted fares are obtained by booking in advance and the discounts are substantial. The cheapest fares from JAL are called "Sakitoku" and from ANA they are called "Tabiwari". Basically, to get these fares you need to book at least 28 days, but no more than 2 months in advance. Reservations can be made from 9.30am on the day 2 months before the boarding date of your first sector flight. Luckily, the return flight can be booked at the same time as long as it is within 2 weeks of the first sector flight.
These flights can be as cheap as 11,000yen each way from Tokyo to Miyazaki and the booking process is simple and easy to understand. Go to JAL's site or ANA's and punch in your dates, once the fares come up look for those "sakitoku" and "tabiwari" options. If you are booking closer than 28 days before flying you can still get discounts such as ANA's "tokuwari" and JAL's "tokubin 7", although they are not as significant.
Note: If you want to look for fares from Tokyo to Miyazaki you will have to choose Tokyo Haneda airport rather than Tokyo Narita. Similarly, from Osaka you need to choose Osaka Itami rather than Osaka Kansai.
Airports and Transfers
It is likely you will enter Japan through either Tokyo or Osaka. There are 2 airports in both these cities and in many cases you will arrive in Japan at one of them and have to transfer to the other for your connecting flight to Miyazaki.
If you fly into Tokyo you will probably land at Narita Airport. In this case you will need to take either a bus or train to Haneda Airport for the 1hr 40min flight to Miyazaki. It is inexpensive but takes 1.5 hrs approx.
If you fly into Osaka you land at Osaka Kansai Airport and need to transfer to Osaka Itami for the 1hr 10 min flight to Miyazaki. In this case the bus is the best option and is quite cheap at 3,400yen return and takes 70 mins.
Baggage Policies
When I lived in Japan I was never charged any fees for my surfboards on domestic flights. However JAL and ANA both have policies that could mean significant charges if you don't pack lightly.
On both JAL and ANA you are only allowed 3 checked items and the free baggage allowance is only 15kg. You can have up to 45kgs baggage but you will pay 500yen for each extra kg. According to JAL, surfboards are treated as normal baggage, this means that if the combined weight of your surfboard bag and any other checked bags is over 15kg, you will be paying 500yen per extra kg.
In regards to your international flights, check any airlines surfboard policy before you book, some of them charge nothing, some of them won't even take boards (British Airways).
When you come to Japan it will be very hot, you will only need light clothing and wetsuits. I suggest you pack very light and use a boardbag that isn't too bulky. Once you have finished the surf tour and your domestic flights - that is the time you can shop like crazy in Tokyo and fill up your bag before you fly home!
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