Dear OW community,
I am contemplating to book my first ever RTW ticket in biz. I was debating *A vs OW, but am leaning towards OW. The only thing certain is that I want to pass through Japan, the US West coast (home) and Central Europe (second home).
I started to play around a little with the route planner on the OW website, which I do not find overly intuitive.

Is there a guide anywhere on FT (or elsewhere) how to tackle things for a newbie?

If possible at all I would like to book using my US Amex plat, in order to earn 5x MR (either with an airline directly or through Amex Travel).

What are currently the cheapest places to start? It appears to me that Japan is reasonable (at the current exchange rates). Is there a European starting point in a similar price range?

EDIT: I found the "Explorer User Guide" here on FT.
EDIT2: It appears that ex-OSL and ex-BUD are in a similar price range as TYO?