Your Gaijin Guide to Cheap Travel in Japan

baka gaijin! A phrase that becomes commonplace in my cheerful criticism of my fellow foreigners in Japan. Rarely heard form the Japanese, but you get glares after blowing your nose loudly on a quiet train that just screams this unspoken phrase in in your head, but I digress. There are actually many benefits to being a foreigner in Japan:

For Air travel:

ANA has the best deal, just have a foreign passport, and a ticket to japan and you can fly any inter-Japan Flight for 10,800 JPY per segment: https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/ejf/ . SO for about $90 USD you end up getting a full fare Y class ticket for any route including Okinawa Naha to Hokkaido Sapporo (normally $400). Additionally If you use your United Mileage Plus Number you get 150% miles and segments good for Premier Status. To book, just use your latest international flight ticket number, and foreign passport number, or book a Happy Plus Peach flight that is fully refundable ($10 rebooking fee). Use that number, then cancel the ticket (www.flypeach.com). At the airport they have never really checked my ticket, but have always verified my passport.

Solaseed airways has a similar program, but not advalible for SOFA Status holder: https://www.skynetasia.co.jp/eng/fare/price/visit.html. Not quite sure if they even check, but its for stand by only, so not worth th risk in my book.

For Trains we have Japan Rail Pass: http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/ the trick is for this one is to send the rail pass to an american address and then reship it to the FPO/APO. This pass allows unlimited rides on the JR run railways, buses, and ferry boats for 38,880 yen (first class) or 29,110 yen (normal class) for 7 days. Very worth it considering a bullet train is around $100 one way. You must pick the region to get a pass. There are offices that will exchange the pass for an actual ticket.

Let me know if there are any more gajin perks!

-Derp