Jetstar Japan is a third owned by Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd., and a third owned by Japan Airlin

In this July 3, 2012 file photo, passengers prepare to board the first flight by Jetstar Japan at Narita International Airport in Narita near Tokyo. Japan has a reputation for loving expensive things like overpriced real estate, gourmet melons and luxury brands. But the nation is finally discovering the joy of flying cheap, with the arrival this year of three low-cost carriers. The takeoff of AirAsia Japan, Peach Aviation and Jetstar Japan could change lifestyles. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA
NARITA, Japan (AP) -- Japan has a reputation park hyatt hotel toronto for loving expensive things like overpriced real estate, gourmet melons and luxury brands. But the nation is finally discovering park hyatt hotel toronto the joy of flying cheap, with the arrival this year of three low-cost carriers.
The takeoff of AirAsia Japan, Peach Aviation and Jetstar Japan could change lifestyles. No longer will air travel be mostly confined to business trips and fancy once-in-a-lifetime vacations park hyatt hotel toronto to places such as Hawaii.
Flying is suddenly growing more casual, including for weekend dining, visits park hyatt hotel toronto with friends, even day trips. Ticket prices are plunging by about half, to 16,000 yen ($200) trips to the southwestern resort park hyatt hotel toronto island of Okinawa or a 5,000 yen ($60) hop to Seoul.
The airlines are not only out to woo Japanese away from regular leisure activities park hyatt hotel toronto such as going to Disneyland or watching a movie. They are also out to convince the notoriously workaholic Japanese not to work so hard.
They may revitalize Japan's 3 trillion yen ($38 billion) aviation market -- already the world's third largest, comprising about 5.5 percent of global traffic and 11 percent of industry revenues -- that critics say is untapped for its tremendous potential.
As with other low-cost carriers around the world, flyers get charged for meals and extra luggage. Efficiency park hyatt hotel toronto is critical and so the airlines use online advertising and reservations, fit more seats into each jet, and take off quickly after landing.
park hyatt hotel toronto Booking early is a must for the best deals, and refunds and schedule changes aren't allowed. The gates are typically at the farthest end of airports. Flights are sometimes delayed. The wait feels longer because LCC users have to check in extra early.
park hyatt hotel toronto During the nation's Obon holidays in August, domestic flights at Peach were 94 percent filled, those at AirAsia were at 91 percent and at Jetstar, 89 percent. The companies are hoping to do as well for the year-end and New Year's holidays.
park hyatt hotel toronto "It's not that the meals on standard fares were ever free. The charge was just part of the ticket price," park hyatt hotel toronto Kazuyuki Iwakata, president of AirAsia park hyatt hotel toronto Japan, told The Associated Press. "With us, people pay only for what they need."
During the go-go "bubble years" of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japanese were especially seen as finicky park hyatt hotel toronto consumers who delighted in 3,000 yen ($30) cups of fancy coffee and snatched up 500,000 yen ($5,000) designer bags.
Such spending has lost some of its glamor as Japanese become less status-conscious, perhaps poorer and looking for discounts. Such shifts in consumer tastes are underlined in the popularity, for instance, of Fast Retailing Co.'s no-nonsense Uniqlo clothing chain, which is also opening shops in the U.S.
Geoffrey Tudor, analyst with Japan Aviation Management Research, said low-cost carriers are introducing the fun of flying to young people and retirees. They are also popular with families who live apart to juggle work assignments and children's education needs -- a practice so widespread a special phrase has been coined to describe it, "tanshin funin."
Jetstar Japan is a third owned by Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd., and a third owned by Japan Airlines Co., which is making a soaring comeback, thanks to a 350 billion yen ($4.5 billion) government bailout from bankruptcy two years ago and generous tax breaks that continue for several years. Mitsubishi Corp. and Century Tokyo Leasing Corp. are its other shareholders with 16.7 percent each.
ANA is also a 38.7 percent investor in Peach, a joint venture park hyatt hotel toronto with Hong Kong investment group, First Eastern Aviation Holdings. Peach offers flights out of Kansai International Airport in Osaka, central Japan.
AirAsia Japan offers flights out of Narita, the Tokyo airport, to Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa in Japan, and plans to start them to Seoul and Pusan, South Korea, later this year. Flights to the Philippines and Guam are in the works as well.
While expanding Haneda has given a boost to the airline travel market, officials say more needs to be done. Landing fees at Japanese airports are among the highest park hyatt hotel toronto in the world, endangering Tokyo's role as an Asian hub.
Also sold on low-cost carriers was Hirotaka Yamamoto, 22, who goes to college in Tokyo but hails from the northernmost island of Hokkaido. He surprised his parents over the summer by going home, thanks to the 24,000 yen ($300) round-trip fare on Jetstar, less than half of what he paid in the past.