Since the deregulation of the airline industry in 1996, domestic flights in Japan have come down in price. Skymark , a new airline owned by discount travel agent HIS and modelled after no-frills European services such as Go and Easyjet, has led the way with price slashing on its Tokyo-Fukuoka and Osaka-Fukuoka routes. It's now planning a Fukuoka-Seoul service, which will be worth checking out as a cheap way into and out of Japan. Air Do is another newcomer (it has a cute teddy bear as a mascot), operating on the Tokyo-Sapporo route, the busiest in the world with eight million passengers a year.

The big three domestic airlines - All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan Airlines (JAL) and Japan Air System (JAS) - have responded with price initiatives of their own. JAL, for example, offers a 25 percent discount for bookings over the Net, while ANA has had campaigns offering all domestic fares at ¥10,000 on certain days. The majors are also planning to launch cut-price subsidiary carriers, but they still have the market pretty much carved up between them and, busiest routes apart, there remains little competition as far as prices and quality of service are concerned; choose whichever airline offers the most convenient flight time. Of the smaller domestic airlines, Air Nippon Koku (ANK) and South-West Airlines (SWAL) offer the widest choice of routes.

If you book in advance , you can make substantial savings on the regular fares with all the major airlines. Tickets booked two months to 28 days in advance qualify for a 45-50 percent discount; if you book 21 days in advance, you can get a 30 percent discount, and fourteen days in advance gives a 20 percent reduction. There's also sometimes 35-40 percent off early morning (generally before 7am) departures. If you're not using a rail pass , the discounted plane fares are well worth considering in comparison to train fares. For example, to travel by train to Sapporo from Tokyo costs ¥22,400 and takes the better part of a day, compared to a discount plane fare as low as ¥16,000 from Tokyo to Shin-Chitose airport, near Sapporo, taking ninety minutes. Note that discounts are generally not available during the peak travelling season of the April/May Golden Week holidays , most of August and over New Year.

If you plan to fly long distances in Japan or want to make several plane trips, it's worth considering JAL's Welcome to Japan or ANA's Visit Japan fare systems. You don't need to fly either airline to Japan to take advantage of these tickets, which offer a minimum of two flights anywhere in the country for ¥25,200, three flights for ¥37,800, four for ¥50,400 and five (maximum) for ¥63,000. This fare is excellent value if you plan to visit far-flung destinations, such as the islands of Okinawa, where standard one-way fares are ¥34,500. There are a few conditions, but the main one to keep in mind is that these tickets are not available during peak travelling seasons (Aug 1-25) and the New Year holidays.