American Airlines is offering some very tempting airfares from the US to Tokyo, but they must be booked by May 27 and travel must begin by August 17, 2008. The deals they are offering are of that “one way based on round trip travel” variety, so the $495 fare from Los Angeles is really $990 plus taxes, but these are still really good deals for travel halfway around the world during a summer when airfares are skyrocketing everywhere.

And by the way, Tokyo isn’t nearly as expensive as most people think, and budget travel there is possible. We’ve all heard stories of $20 hamburgers, but there are also $5 noodle shops all over.

American Airlines fare sale to Tokyo