00:00:01 John Daub: Greetings from Tokyo everyone. That in front of you is the magnificent Tokyo Station where JR trains and the bullet train, the Shinkansen, depart every 10 minutes or so. And this live stream is pretty epic because I hold in my pocket right now this, a free ticket from Japan Airlines.

00:00:26 John Daub: Yeah, this is not real. But this is what you subscribe for. News breaking right now. This airline ticket is symbolic. It's you from somewhere to Japan. What I want to talk about today is this really amazing press release from Japan Airlines. Japan has two big airlines: ANA, All Nippon Airways, and JAL. JAL is the one in red and ANA is the one in blue. I'm going to put a link in the description so you can check it out for yourself. You're going to want to bookmark that. Japan Airlines is releasing 100,000 seats on flights during the Olympics for free. This is revolutionary. This is huge.

00:01:26 John Daub: So what are you thinking? Right now everyone's going, "Yeah, this is so cool because now I can fly to Japan for free and they're giving 100,000. So the chances of this happening is really high." We're going to go over exactly what all of this breaking news is about. Why is JAL doing this? How can they make money off of this? And what's the deal? Is this a free flight from the United States, Europe, and Australia to Japan or what? So we're going to try to explain this together here in the center of Tokyo because I want you all to understand, all to come here as well. I want you to join me here in Japan for the Olympics because I'm gonna be live streaming on this channel. Do subscribe. This is gonna be one of the big channels where we're gonna be highlighting the Olympic venues outside and around the city to see how exciting Tokyo is during the 2020 Olympics. So you want to subscribe, make sure your notifications are on because this is gonna be really exciting.

00:02:14 John Daub: This ticket—I was really excited when I saw this. All the news networks picked this up yesterday, so I'm a little bit late to the game. But right now in my pocket I'm holding another iPhone. We're gonna go over the website and the press release. And also if you're watching this back live, you might want to open up the live chat to see what other people are writing because it makes it a little bit more fun. So that's Japan Airlines website and it says "Win a Trip with JAL." That's awesome, right? See Japan with fresh eyes, discover a new Japanese city. Applications open late February. So all that excitement sort of just died right now. I mean, I can't get it in. But knowing what it is means that you're gonna be able to see the Olympics and you're not gonna be late. That's another reason why I wanted to bring this livestream to you like ASAP. Only for visitors to Japan and summer. Right now I'm disqualified, so my excitement has completely dived.

00:03:07 John Daub: Enjoy the charms of areas of Japan you have yet to discover. Let JAL take you on a journey for free. I like that word "free." Travel periods July 1st to December 30th, 2020. This is a really cool campaign and I'm gonna tell you the rules and I'll also explain how JAL is probably paying for this. The service is available only to visitors, so foreign visitors, foreign tourists between June 1st and October 31st. You have to travel within that period, which is during around the Olympics. And the reason why, of course, is the government wants you to visit not just Tokyo but look around the amazing country of Japan. We invite you to travel with us for free. We invite visitors to Japan during the special offer period to fly with JAL to a domestic destination within Japan during the specified period. We are offering up to 100,000 seats on JAL domestic routes.

00:04:03 John Daub: Okay, everybody who is like going "free ticket from home to here," you can relax a little bit or show your disappointment in the live chat because yeah, that's not what this is, unfortunately. These are free domestic flights. This isn't all bad. It's free. These are all domestic flights within Japan. That's important for us to just get that out of the way. Enjoy your journey with the traditional Japanese hospitality offered by JAL. I like this because then you don't have to fly Skymark or Jetstar or one of the other budget airlines, which is a pain in the neck because they charge you up the wazoo with all different kinds of fees. This campaign provides round-trip air tickets. Round trip—I like that word. So the number of available passengers is maximum 50,000. There are a limited number of available seats. We know that in some cases no destination will be shown. So if they're run out of destinations, enjoy finding out where y'all go with those pictures right there.

00:05:20 John Daub: This is so cool. This is what makes it so exciting for me because I'm gonna be living through you. I can't do this, maybe my family would come and take this trip. But you don't know where you're going to go. So you apply for this ticket, you don't know where you're gonna go. That's the magic of it. Let's say you're coming to Tokyo for the Olympics and you win this and you don't know what seats you're gonna be on. It's almost like a standby ticket, but you're gonna have the ticket beforehand. It's okay, it's exciting, right? Like, oh guess what, I just won a ticket to Yamagata. Where's Yamagata? You start looking on the map and then you start getting excited because the reason I think that this campaign is great is it gets you excited about going someplace else, seeing something that you would normally not have seen about this amazing country. And that's what I do on Only in Japan Go. It's pretty smart, isn't it?

00:06:15 John Daub: Find out in July finding out where you'll go, experience the beauty of a new part of Japan and its rich cultural heritage. It's like Russian roulette but you win. When you apply, JAL will show you four possible destinations. So bookmark that website—the link in the description I'm gonna be putting there in a little bit. Then we can tell you which ones you'll enjoy within three days of your application. So it's not standby, you're gonna find out really quick. Embark on a thrilling journey like no other and see what discoveries await at your mysterious destination. How bad could it be? What do you guys think? Are there any bad destinations that JAL flies to? Is there like this dangerous nothing area? Maybe Kushiro in Hokkaido—north Hokkaido in the summer is still such a beautiful wilderness, lots of nature around there. Eastern side of Hokkaido, maybe up in Abashiri where they have the prison. That might be a tough destination for some people. But you don't know where you're gonna go and that's the mystery of it. Flights depart from Tokyo and Osaka. Osaka's domestic terminal is Itami and the international terminal is Kansai.

00:07:48 John Daub: Apply to travel with your friends and family. Yes, so if you want to take your spouse or your family with you, you can apply with those people too, which is kind of a good thing. Because like I noticed, ANA—god love them—they made us pay an extra $25 to sit next to each other. We complained on Twitter and then they made it up for us. I'll stream later on and kind of explain what ANA did for us. But all the airlines are now charging an extra fee if you want to sit next to somebody because the aisle and the windows are premium real estate. You might be separated from your family. So you can apply with your family, that's good. You can apply as a group of up to four people. Choose from three to five destination departure arrival time slots. So you even get to choose the time that you want to go. That's pretty good, making it easy to plan your trip. So it's like JAL is working with you. This isn't just getting rid of seats—you have choices.

00:09:17 John Daub: I would apply even if you're coming to Japan at the end during that time, July 1st to September 30th. Just try this. Go to the "Win a Trip with JAL" application screen, choose a departure location and date, see the possible destinations—you have a choice of four and they will choose one for you. Make sure the passenger information entered matches the membership. You got to sign up to the JAL Mileage Bank. This is not sponsored by JAL. You get some JAL miles, maybe discover your destination. You'll get an email within three days of applying. That's good, it's fast. Try your luck and see where "Win a Trip with JAL" takes you. Applications open February 2020. Our community here on Only in Japan Go will be ready. Content will be released in early January. There's terms and conditions, refunds, facts about the "Win a Trip." There's always the fine print. There's a limit on the number of applications per day. Passengers must be JAL Mileage Bank members—I'm a member. Residents must be outside Japan. Passengers must hold a passport issued by a country other than Japan or Japanese passport holders with permanent residency of a country other than Japan. When boarding, you may be asked to present proof that you visited Japan during a specified period.

00:11:29 John Daub: [inaudible Japanese interaction with passerby] Oh that's nice. I like that—people coming to say hello just randomly in front of the station. It's holiday spirit right there. Flights depart and return to Tokyo or Osaka. You cannot apply again if you cancel for personal reasons. There are a limited number of seats available. In some cases no destinations will be shown if the destination is gone.

00:13:31 John Daub: What do you think now? This is the moment where you guys can ask me some questions. Did Japan Airlines just hit a home run or do you see potential problems with this? Is this a good deal? Does this make you want to come to Japan to get a free ticket or is there something really interesting about the mysterious aspect of not knowing your destination and winning a free round-trip ticket? I kind of like it. Peter writes in potential issues. Charles arrived late—what's the airline doing this? Mark writes "not a good deal," "Corona." I would like to go to Japan regardless of the JAL deal—I'm on board with that. Ronald writes the mysterious aspect is interesting as a campaign. I'm sure it's a big success. Every single news network latched on to this and 100,000 free flight seats is significant.

00:14:47 John Daub: So the question is how is JAL paying for this? My guess is that it's somewhat subsidized by the government if not all, because I know the Japan government is pushing extremely hard to increase tourism outside of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. They want to bring as much attention to the entire country. They want you to come back to Japan the second time, see something new—not just Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Go up to Tohoku and up to Hokkaido, down to Kyushu and Shikoku. Go see Kochi and the wonderful Shimanto River. Go up to Hokkaido and see Abashiri and the icebergs in February or go down to Kushiro and see the beautiful nature as the snow melts. Go up to Wakkanai and see how the signs are in Russian, Japanese, and English. Or go down to Kagoshima and see Sakurajima explode with lava, which it does quite often, or some ash in the morning covering the entire city of Kagoshima, or drink their wonderful shochu and their kurobuta black pork.

00:16:38 John Daub: I'm gonna take you where you would validate your Japan Rail Pass so then you can get an idea. That's right inside there. If you validate your pass then you have seven days or 14 days or 21 days to use it unlimited—meaning the Shinkansen, you just can't take the Nozomi Shinkansen, which is the fast one. That's limited to residents like me, but the Hikari leaves about twice an hour so it's not too inconvenient on the Tokaido Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka. That's the Tokyo Olympics countdown clock. Pretty cool—we know exactly how many days, hours, minutes, seconds: 208 days, five hours, 22 minutes until the opening games start. And that's here right in front of the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station.

00:17:45 John Daub: This is the North entrance of the Marunouchi building, constructed in a very European style in 1912, beautifully renovated a few years ago. The whole Marunouchi side has been completely renovated—it's beautiful now. Just over there that clearing is the Imperial Palace where the Emperor lives. I'm going to take you inside Marunouchi's North entrance and just show you where you would validate your JR Rail Pass because I really wish I could get these. It's like 29,000 yen for one week of unlimited Shinkansen. That's insane. And for two weeks it's even a little bit cheaper per day, and three weeks is a $600 deal or something. A one round-trip ticket to Osaka from Tokyo costs what you get for a week of unlimited travel. This is the north entrance to Tokyo Station. Right over there is where foreign tourists go to validate their JR Rail Passes.

00:19:07 John Daub: What they've done here is they put the destinations in English so even if you just come in here you can get an idea of when the train's going. These X's represent that there's no seat available. During the holiday period right now it's pretty sparse inside here. I like to come in here every now and then because there's a lot of information on travel deals and trips and things that you hadn't thought about. The Gono Line—I never heard of the Gono Line before. There's always a new area of Japan coming into my radar. All kinds of passes that you might not have known about—like the Nagano Pass for example: five days of unlimited travel for 5,000 yen. That's a pretty darn good deal. Then there's Tokyo ticket deals. That's where you get your tickets validated—one of the places you can go. You can get it validated at Narita Airport, you can buy them too.

00:21:24 John Daub: One other thing before we end this live stream—I just wanted to keep it short. I'm so thankful. We've had a really good year. The airlines themselves have really good deals. So if you don't want to take the Shinkansen or the Rail Pass—if you've done this Rail Pass a couple of times, why do you want to do it again? Sometimes going from Tokyo to Kagoshima in 7 hours is like 10 hours—it's a really long trip. But if you fly there, you get there in 90 minutes. And if you book a little bit in advance, you can get flights as low as $50 from Tokyo to Kagoshima or Hokkaido. Taking the train to Hokkaido can take 8 or 9 hours. Foreign tourists have really great deals from all of these airlines. I know JAL and ANA—I prefer to fly them because I can just relax. Jetstar is okay, but if I have any luggage at all, I will always pay extra to go with JAL or ANA. And I know if there's a cancellation or problem, they're really good at handling that. There's that omotenashi spirit. But Jetstar is bare bones. Unless you're saving over $100 or more to fly into Narita, always pick Haneda—it's so much easier and more convenient to get into the city.

00:24:17 John Daub: I'm going to take some questions now about this. Do you have any questions regarding this JAL campaign? I'm pretty sure that it's subsidized by the local governments. And I believe that when you buy your ticket, there's going to be some support to help you find hotels and maybe prompt you to go in a certain direction. I'm pretty sure they're going to make money off of it one way or another. Eric writes "I'm in." What's the age requirement? I don't believe there's an age requirement. The JAL campaign—how long does it last? You have to travel between July 1st and September 30th. Applications open February 2020. I recommend you start as soon as possible. How much are the tickets? I'm guessing about $130 one way, so roughly $250 to $275 round trip value for free. That's something.

00:27:47 John Daub: Flying domestic in Japan is pretty cool. I love Haneda Airport because when you give your luggage, it's like the future. You put it into this little rack, scan your QR code, the compartment opens up with weird lighting. Then it spits out the band to put around it, scans to make sure it gets to the right airline, and automatically closes. Your luggage tilts gently and goes on a belt through the maze. Security always takes about five to ten minutes. You can take liquids on domestic flights—Japan has scanners to check all liquids and pet bottles. They put it in the machine, check the contents, and give it back. The technology is state of the art.

00:29:38 John Daub: The last piece of information is when you fly into regional Japanese airports, they always have amazing places to buy local gifts, local omiyage (souvenirs). I do a lot of my shopping there. In fact, if you're a Patreon supporter, if you're a daimyo, I will find a lot of the gifts that I send to you at airport gift shops. They manage each airport so well—like in Aomori, before the luggage comes out, they'll put a piece of maguro or a fish on the luggage belt, supersized. When I went to Tottori, they had Gegege no Kitaro at Yonago Airport. In Shikoku's Sanuki region, they had a massive bowl of udon come on the luggage rack with the suitcases. The little details at regional airports are super cool—Instagrammable moments.

00:31:20 John Daub: You're going to want to leave a comment in this video if you have any questions. We have a Discord server: discord.gg/onlyinjapango. On January 1st, if you're an Instagram supporter—onlyinjapantv—I'm giving away KitKats for a week. Hit the like button if you like these news updates. I will see you in the next live stream probably tomorrow because it's the end of the year. I want to share with you all of the amazing things happening in Japan during shogatsu (Japanese New Year). Get ready for some amazing live streams from Japan as we move into 2020, which is so significant—the Tokyo Olympics are coming. In 203 days. See everybody. Have a nice day. Have a nice night. Thanks for being a part of Only in Japan. Bye, everybody.