Traveling to Japan

Hello everyone,

I will be traveling to Japan in August. When is the best time for me to buy my plane ticket? Is it cheaper 6 months in advance rather than 2 months?

I'm only allowed to stay there for 3 months on a tourist visa. Has anyone gone to Korea or China for a week then came back to Japan for another 3 months? Does anyone have any experience with taking a ferry from japan to korea or china?

Thank you

If you have no visa restrictions, you can pop by Taiwan, China, Korea, or USA and then return to Japan for another 3 months.

The best time to book is always as early as possible, unless you are taking a low cost carrier that has weekly or monthly sales. Normal airlines do not have offers as often and they are less predictable. If possible, book is a year before. The supply is there (plane and many seats) but low demand (most seats are untaken) thus the price is lower.

The best time to book is when the prices are lowest, but that's generally impossible to predict. Over here, the best strategy is to subscribe to the airlines' newsletters to be notified when they have special, limited-time offers. But I hear the market is different in the US...

Booking a year before is way too early. Now is not a good time to book either; most airlines are still applying a fuel surcharge that was computed before the recent drop in oil prices. I would wait til at least February.