Originally Posted by
IAH-OIL-TRASH
Hawaii-Japan is still relatively cheap (UA codeshares on ANA) - but you have to get to Hawaii and it eats up days. $1100 econ /$2100 prem econ /$3300 business are current normal roundtrip fares between Hawaii and Japan.
As for Tokyo vs Houston humidity - I call it a tie. The main issue is neither city is a place you want to be outside of air-conditioned spaces during the summer. Doesn't make for good tourism.
Otherwise, Japan's been an excellent value for a couple of years w/ lower hotel rates (even beyond the exchange rate) if one can decide that one doesn't have to stay at a U.S-branded or higher-end hotel. They've slightly jacked up the discounted rail and subway fares geared towards tourists, but they're still a bargain.
If the OP can use miles to get
to Japan, OZ has very reasonable fares coming back from Japan, at least to the west coast. We just booked NRT(ICN)LAX for $1500 each, which is less than ZipAir, while still offering comparable inflight service to United.