Correct. You may not swap.

You'd be surprised at how many people here get off on figuring this kind of stuff out. Give it a shot.

In that case, I want to leave from the US (ideally JFK but am flexible) to TYO on Oct 9 or 10 and return either from TYO on oct 19 or HKG on Oct 21. All in business class. I have 130K points per ticket to get it done but the fewer the better. I need 2 tickets. It's not easy b

Indeed. One month out is not the best time to be looking for something like this.

I did a search for Oct 9 or 10 from JFK to HND or JFK to NRT in business class on www.awardnexus.com (which is free to sign up for FlyerTalk members; click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button), and the only business class availability for 2 in any alliance is on CZ (China Southern Airlines) for JFK-CAN-HND (CAN being Guangzhou, China) with a 2.9 hour layover with a total trip time of 23.6 hours, dep JFK Oct 10 1:45 am arv HND 2:20 pm. China Southern Airlines is in SkyTeam.

In fact, this routing was the only business class availability for even just 1, except there were other departure times available for just 1, while this is the only departure time available for 2.

(Note: I didn't search EWR, only JFK.)

So it doesn't matter what points you have or how many of them you have, trying to get an award like this just 1 month out with any amount of any miles is going to really tough (except on domestic carriers if you're willing to use enough miles for "last seat" aka "anytime" aka "standard" awards).

Please note: I don't know if they have more than 2 seats or just 2. So it's hard for me to say how long this availability might last. Just because it's available today doesn't guarantee that by the time your decision it would still be available.

Note: There may or may not be last-minute awards that open up a day or two before the flight. But if you're not experienced at this, that's no way to plan travel, is it?

You may want to consider an award booking service for something this tough. (Of course, that won't be free.)

Booking only six weeks out, that is going to be a tall order. ANA is probably your best bet as they have the cheapest business award seats from N. America to Japan. They don't seem to have business availability on those dates right now, but there is availability closer in. The catch is (someone can correct me if I'm wrong), you'll have to cough up the miles for F up front, knowing that you may end up in the back anyway. You won't get those extra miles returned, even if you end up in economy.

ANA has a number of flights but all are "waitlisted" and the advice I have received is that waitlist wont likely clear. CZ is available from LAX or JFK via Delta for 160K miles each way. I can get a premium economy seat back on the 21st from HKG on Cathay to JFK and waitlist for biz, which I think is likely. There is availability via FlyingBlue but they want 100K for the same CZ flights Delta will sell for 80K.

Korean Air had quite a bit of availability when I spoke to them on the phone from JFK to TYO via ICN - but I need to get Skypass miles - which is why I want Chase UR vs. Amex.

AZ is 90k return in J. Why not book KE/CZ with them??

I didnt see availability with them.

They have the same award space which is available to all skyteam partners. You need to call AZ up to book partner awards. Yo have to book a return though so there will need to be KE/CZ availability in both directions.