Japanese tourism To Japan on the very cheap

ANY "highly influential" bloggers out there who fancy free flights to Japan? The local tourism agency has announced plans to give away 10,000 return tickets in an effort to boost the number of foreign visitors. Japan's tourism industry has been badly hit by the strong yen and, particularly, the reaction to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in March. In the three months after the disaster the number of visitors dropped to half what they were in the same period in 2010.

"We are hoping to get highly influential blogger-types, and others who can spread the word that Japan is a safe place to visit,” said Kazuyoshi Sato of the tourism board, which intends to spend some 10% of its annual budget on the promotion. It will not find out till March 2012, though, whether the plan has been approved, and will only start taking applications in April. But this early naming of the proposal delivers a nice dollop of PR.

To apply for one of the free tickets you'll have to explain your travel plans and what you expect to get out of the visit.