Japan - Unique *A Destination in Japan

Hello,

In Sept - Oct '13, my wife and I are going to string together multiple award tickets for an around the world trip in business class. I have been to Tokyo for 10 days in 2003, and my wife has never been to Japan.

What would be an interesting destination, served by Star Alliance, for us to see for 2-4 days in Japan? Particularly somewhere unique and remote, where a regular ticket would be very expensive, but we could get as an award ticket.

We like relaxing, hiking, eating, whitewater rafting, and taking in the local culture. Neither of us speaks Japanese, though are willing to fumble around through areas where we won't speak the local language.

Best regards,

Arthur

Well, given that NH (ANA) is a *A member, you can use them to get to most any commercial airport in Japan. Hokkaido might be interesting, for example.

Regular tickets wouldn't be expensive regardless, however, since if you use a *A carrier to get to Japan, you can buy tickets on ANA for around Y11,000 a leg.

Kyoto would be my first choice.... You could do a day trip from there, but 2-4 days there is good. Sept/Oct is also a very nice time to go.

My advice would be not to cram to many destinations into your trip. Just fly to NRT or KIX and enjoy it from there.

Ishigaki in okinawa prefecture?

Even with the ANA air pass, you'd still need to buy at least 2 segments to get there after you arrive from North America.