Japan 'offers 10,000 free trips to foreigners'

[The Northerner]

Source: The Telegraph

Japan will offer 10,000 foreigners free airfares to visit the country next year, in an attempt to boost the tourism industry which has been hit by the ongoing nuclear disaster, a report said on Monday.

The Japan Tourism Agency plans to ask would-be travellers to submit online applications for the free flights, detailing which areas of the country they would like to visit, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

The agency will select the successful entrants and ask them to write a report about their trip which will be published on the internet.

Tourism authorities hope that positive reports from travellers about their experiences in Japan will help ease international worries about visiting the country, the newspaper said.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8818400/Japan-offers-10000-free-trips-to-foreigners.html

[valerief]

1. self-dele, dupe

[valerief]

2. Hmm, should I stay poisoned here or get poisoned there? Choices, choices, choices. nt

[cstanleytech]

5. Well keep in mind there is a benefit of getting poisoned there and that is

atleast your power bills will be lower when you get back a bit as you will glow.

[valerief]

7. Maybe they also have national healthcare unlike here. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Japan has national health care

but it's for residents. You'd probably either have to buy private insurance, or pay the full price for whatever medical attention you might need over here (in Japan).

[PSPS]

3. We're trying to "import shoppers" too

The United States has long imported its food and fuel, its cars and clothes. Now the faltering economy has sparked a push for another type of import: shoppers.

For the first time, lawmakers, businesses and even White House officials are courting consumers from cash-rich countries such as China, India and Brazil to fill the nation’s shopping malls and pick up the slack for penny-pinching Americans. They are wooing travelers with enticements such as coupons, beauty pageants and promises of visa reform. The payoff, they say, could be significant: 1.3 million new jobs and an $859 billion shot in the arm for the economy over the next decade.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2046416

[mahina]

4. I've always wanted to go to Japan

Let's not forget, our own nuclear tests in Nevada, testing here in the 60's (by here I mean in the Pacific), and all the stuff we don't know about.

I'd go to Japan. I would love to go. Maybe not Fukushima, unless I can connect to help, and really weigh the risks. But I can help in other places.

Aloha for Japan.

[boppers]

9. A must see movie about the 2053:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY

[MedicalAdmin]

11. Don't forget the storage sites and the old weapon development sites.

There are plenty of places in the US that glow in the dark and that kill residents slowly.

Me - I'm submitting an applications. I have always wanted to visit Japan.

[Demoiselle]

13. I'm old and I've never been to Japan.

What the hell....I'll explore it.

[MedicalAdmin]

16. That's the spirit!

Visiting or staying in another country, assuming you can get away from the tourist traps and get where real people live and play and work, is a life changing experience.

[Downwinder]

6. Radiation Therapy

But why go there? It comes here.

[izquierdista]

8. This could work out well

They DO have a very good health care system, so perhaps the people turned away from Remote Area Medical clinics can apply and get themselves patched up.

[Donny]

10. Not enough incentive for me. They appear desperate.

And I have great compassion for the Japanese people. It's a very sad (and ongoing) situation.

[ret5hd]

12. they are just going to discover how uneducated americans are...

they will get itineraries listing the great wall, hong kong,etc

[miyazaki]

17. ya, a good example of this is in some the responses here. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

32. I gotta see if all of their women are DD-cup sex machines like in the animes

:dunce:

[Ian David]

14. I don't know if we could afford to eat once we got there. I hear food is expensive. n/t

[pitohui]

18. eat what the people really eat

street food, fried chicken on a stick, noodle shops, tasting in the grocery stores, in the convenience stores you can get bento boxes and they even put it in the microwave for you to eat hot

don't eat in places that are just for businessmen on expense accounts to display conspicuous consumption, i don't think i would have enjoyed that kind of thing anyway

japan has children, students, backpackers, low income people...the whole range of human beings and they all eat!

also it's kinda cool to get beer out of a vending machine

[Art_from_Ark]

21. No more beer in vending machines

They did away with that back in the '90s to discourage underage drinking.

[Ian David]

27. Thanks! n/t

[pitohui]

28. i assure you that is not the case

there was still beer in the vending machines when i visited 4 years ago...

admittedly not in ALL vending machines, but they were around

not saying they haven't yanked the beer by now but it wasn't in the 90s if they did so

[Art_from_Ark]

30. There are no more beer vending machines on the street

At least, not in the normal areas. There might still be some in the sleazy red light districts, and maybe some hotels, but there aren't any in my area, and I haven't seen one in Tokyo for years and years. The Japanese government had an anti-underage-drinking campaign in the '90s, and the beer vending machines started disappearing very rapidly after that.

On edit:
Here is a Japanese Q&A site from 2005 that asks about the disappearance of the beer vending machines. The answer-- there were a very few left (at that time) in some very rural areas:
http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/1594911.html

[Art_from_Ark]

22. It depends on what you want to eat and how you want to eat it

You can get boxed lunches for around $3-$4 (250-350 yen) in any convenience store, and they'll even heat them up if you want.
You can get deli items pretty cheap in supermarkets, especially if you go around closing time.
"Family restaurants" such as Denny's and Coco's offer menus that start out around 680 yen ($8.00 or so) and you don't have to pay any tips.
McDonald's has various promotions for $2.00 chicken burgers and stuff like that.
You can also get "teishoku" lunch/dinner sets at local restaurants for around 680 yen or even less.

[Ian David]

26. Thanks! n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

29. Here's an example of what I am talking about

This 10-piece sushi dinner was originally priced at 598 yen at the local grocery store-- which is not a bad price in itself, about $7.50, or 75 cents per piece. But I got this for half price (that's what the yellow and red sticker says) an hour before closing-- so it only cost about $3.75, or 37.5 cents per piece

[Ian David]

31. Ooh! Awesome! n/t

[Chakaconcarne]

15. Send TeaBaggers.....

Since things aren't working out so well for them here in the states and they wouldn't be needing that "stinkin" health care when they get back.

[pitohui]

19. i'll go

i checked around and supposedly this isn't actually funded yet but if it happens i'll try to wrangle one of the invites, 10K comps, it can't be THAT impossible

i hope i am not disqualified because of a previous visit...

[JI7]

20. anyone have an idea how much roundtrip would be and hotel

i have always wanted to visit and they are one of the more expensive places. or at least use to be. i think it would be a good time for some to visit.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. Hotels vary in price

So-called business hotels in the Ueno district of Tokyo, for example, can run around 6500 yen ($80) a night, while classier places in Tokyo can run up past $200. You can also look into getting a "weekly mansion" ("mansion" = apartment) for around $300 a week in Tokyo.

For air fares, you can go to the web sites of various airlines to check on their fares. They vary greatly, depending on the time of your trip and the location of your seat in the plane. Also, there are currently some hefty surcharges in place.

[sce56]

25. Yeah I'll put in for that but Okinawa I saw the odometer go from 1999 to 2000 there!

And it is very far from Fukushima!