Thanks to sales on four airlines—ANA, United, Singapore Airlines, and Air China—flights from Los Angeles to Tokyo are available for round-trip prices from $489 (including taxes and fees). Feel free to daydream about the spring cherry blossoms, the summer festival season (like the Sumida-gawa Fireworks Festival in Tokyo in late July), and the 15-day Sumo Autumn Basho sumo wrestling tournament in mid-September. While there isn't really a bad time to visit Japan, try to avoid traveling in mid-August; this is the time when Japan observes Obon, the festival honoring ancestral spirits. It's a popular time for locals to travel themselves, so you may face closed stores, pricey hotel rates, and crowded airports and train stations.

It's a little early right now to plan flights to guarantee arriving during peak hanami (i.e. cherry blossom viewing)—the exact timing changes annually—so you should aim for late March through early April to see the trees in Tokyo and try the traditional seasonal eats; we love the sakura mochi and onigiri dyed a bright pink.

How to book: Enter your preferred travel dates between January and September 2017 into Momondo's search; it's showing airfares lower than what's on Google Flights or Kayak. The best deals are available on ANA, Singapore Airlines, United, and Air China, but availability of each fluctuates so it's best to lock in your desired airline and dates as soon as possible. Most of the itineraries require one short layover, but even if that layover happens at an airport in China, you won't need a Chinese visa. Pro tip: Look for flights into and out of Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) versus Narita (NRT), since Haneda is closer to central Tokyo by almost an hour of travel time and located on metro Tokyo's transit system.