Over the weekend I went to a travel agency in my neighborhood to inquire about flights back to California for the winter holiday. I told the agent my destination and travel dates and he went back to his desk to search the database, while I flipped through brochures advertising the exotic foods and brand name goods of foreign lands.

A couples of minutes later, the agent came back with a list of three different flight options. The first option looked good, but since I’m not yet 100% sure about my plans and won’t be able to make a reservation for a few days, I asked him whether there were still quite a few seats available on the flight.

“Actually,” he replied, “there are no seats available.”
“Oh. . . uh, okay, how about the second flight?”
“Nope. That one’s sold out, too.”
“Then why did you. . . .”

Yep, only the third (and most expensive) flight had any seats available. This kind of thing happens every single time I go to a travel agency. Of course, 90% of the time I’ve ended up buying tickets directly from the airlines themselves, but occasionally there are deals to be found in the agencies. It’s a shame that discount travel websites like Orbitz, Expedia, etc. haven’t found their way to these shores yet. If I were to buy a ticket from any of the American sites, I wouldn’t be able to use them. Apparently Japanese law prohibits buying tickets for flights originating in Japan from sources outside of Japan. Well, actually, it’s not against the law to buy tickets from overseas; they just won’t be accepted when you show up at the airport and try to use them.

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This photo is from back in August (which makes the context even more bizarre, perhaps) of a promotional event for the town of Kutchan, Hokkaido, complete with a giant snowman and alpenhorns.