Japan on Points: Booking Tokyo and Kyoto with Amex Membership Rewards

88,000 points. That's what ANA Mileage Club charges for a round-trip economy flight to Tokyo in low season. Converted to euros, if you've accumulated those points via Membership Rewards, you're paying roughly 1 eurocent per point. Compare that with a cash ticket of €900 to €1,400 in the same period, and you understand why booking Japan on points via Amex Membership Rewards is so appealing for Belgian travellers.

But let's be honest: it's not simple. Not just a matter of pressing a button and you're done. There are transfer partners involved, award charts that change, availability that fluctuates by season. I've done the research, run the numbers, and mapped out the pitfalls. Not as someone who's been there ten times already (I'll save that for Florida and Thailand), but as someone who knows the points system inside and out and has calculated the booking logic for Belgian travellers departing from Brussels Airport.

Why booking Japan on points from Belgium makes sense

Japan is one of those destinations where the difference between cash and points really stands out. A round-trip economy ticket Brussels-Tokyo fluctuates in 2026 between €850 and €1,500, depending on the season and airline. In business class? Expect €3,500 to €6,000 round-trip. Those are amounts that make you gulp as a Belgian traveller.

With Membership Rewards points from the Amex Platinum card, the picture looks very different. You transfer points to airline partners and use them to book an award ticket. The transfer itself is free and usually happens at a 1:1 ratio (1 MR point = 1 mile or point with the partner). Which partner you choose makes an enormous difference in how many points you pay and which route you fly.

From Brussels there is no direct flight to Japan. You always make at least one connection. That sounds like a disadvantage, but it actually opens up possibilities: you can fly via London, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Istanbul or Doha, using a different partner airline each time. That flexibility is precisely what makes the points system powerful.

For those unfamiliar: the Amex Platinum card in Belgium costs €780 per year (€65/month) and earns a standard 1 Membership Rewards point per euro spent. With the Booster option (€10/month extra) that becomes 4 points per euro. The welcome bonus is up to 250,000 points when you apply via a referral link and spend at least €4,000 to €6,000 in the first three months. This bonus is one-time only, not repeatable on a subsequent application.

The best Amex transfer partners for flights to Japan

This is where it gets concrete. Not every transfer partner is equal, and the differences are sometimes surprisingly large. I'll list the three most relevant options for Belgian travellers.

My advice for most Belgian travellers: start with ANA Mileage Club. The combination of relatively low point prices, low surcharges, and the logical Lufthansa connection from Brussels makes it the most practical choice. The BRU-Frankfurt flight takes barely an hour, and from there you fly 11 hours to Haneda.

British Airways Avios can work out cheaper in economy (77,000 points off-peak is really sharp), but the high fuel surcharges on BA flights eat into part of the advantage. A tip: book via Avios but on a JAL-operated flight. The same London-Tokyo route, but with much lower surcharges. The trick is that you can search for and book JAL award seats via the BA website using Avios.

Admittedly: award availability to Japan isn't always plentiful. Especially during the cherry blossom season (late March to mid-April) and the autumn foliage season (November), seats are scarce. Book preferably 10 to 11 months in advance. ANA opens bookings exactly 355 days ahead.

The maths: when does Japan on points with Amex Platinum add up?

Let's look at this honestly. The Amex Platinum costs €780 per year. The welcome bonus of 250,000 points (via the TravelLux.be referral link) is the key piece in this. With those 250,000 points you can book the following:

• 2 round-trip economy tickets to Japan via ANA (2 × 88,000 = 176,000 points), with 74,000 points left over
• 1 round-trip business class ticket via ANA (165,000 points), with 85,000 points left over for hotels or an additional economy ticket
• 1 round-trip business class ticket via BA Avios on JAL (130,000 points), with 120,000 points left over

Suppose you book two economy round-trips via ANA for 176,000 points total. You still pay approximately €200 per person in taxes and surcharges, so €400 cash on top. The same tickets easily cost €2,200 to €2,800 cash for two people. So you save roughly €1,800 to €2,400. Subtract the annual fee of €780, and you're still looking at a net saving of at least €1,000.

The value per point in that scenario: 1.0 to 1.4 eurocents per Membership Rewards point. That's solid, but not spectacular. Where it gets really interesting is with business class. A round-trip business class ticket Brussels-Tokyo easily costs €4,500 cash. Book it for 165,000 points plus €200 in taxes, and you achieve a value of 2.6 eurocents per point. That's a doubling.

However: for someone who applies for the card purely for one Japan trip and then cancels? You need to factor in the €780 annual fee plus the €4,000-6,000 minimum spend in three months. If that spending consists of expenses you would have had anyway (groceries, insurance, subscriptions), it's profitable. If you need to spend extra to reach the threshold, the maths become less clear-cut.

Tokyo and Kyoto: practical tips for the points hunter

Japan itself is, to put it mildly, a destination you can approach in multiple ways. Most Belgian travellers combine Tokyo and Kyoto in a single trip of 10 to 14 days. A few things that are relevant when booking with points.

Fly preferably into Tokyo Haneda (HND) rather than Narita (NRT). Haneda is closer to the city centre, the train connection is faster, and an increasing number of international flights land there. With ANA award bookings you can usually choose. The Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto costs approximately €120 one way and takes 2 hours 15 minutes. Not bookable with airline points, but one of the best train rides in the world.

Hotels in Japan are a separate story. The Amex Platinum gives you access to Fine Hotels + Resorts, with properties in both Tokyo and Kyoto. With an FHR booking you get a complimentary room upgrade (if available), daily breakfast for two, early check-in, late check-out, and a welcome gift of approximately €100. The room rates aren't the lowest you'll find online, but add up those benefits (breakfast at a luxury hotel in Tokyo easily costs €40-60 per person per day), and it often works out more favourably than it seems.

You can also transfer Membership Rewards points to Hilton Honors (1:2 ratio, so 1 MR point = 2 Hilton points) or Marriott Bonvoy (1:1 ratio, but often lower value per point). Honestly, I find the points value with hotel transfers usually less favourable than with flights. A night at the Conrad Tokyo costs 60,000-80,000 Hilton points, which equates to 30,000-40,000 MR points. The same night costs €250-400 cash. That gives a value of 0.6 to 1.3 cents per MR point. Not bad, but not impressive either.

One more thing: is Amex accepted in Japan? Quite well, in the major cities. Hotels, department stores, international restaurants: no problem. But Japan is still a country where cash matters, especially at smaller restaurants, street food stalls, temples, and ryokans. The 7-Eleven ATMs accept foreign cards and are everywhere. Make sure to bring a Visa or Mastercard as backup. The Amex Platinum has no foreign transaction fees, which is handy for the transactions where it does work.

When is the Amex Platinum not worth it for Japan?

Honesty requires it. The Amex Platinum isn't the right choice for everyone, even if you dream of cherry blossoms in Kyoto.

• You fly only once a year and spend less than €1,000 per month on credit card: the annual fee of €780 then weighs too heavily against the points you accumulate
• You always fly economy and book via budget airlines: then you'll get more value from a card without an annual fee or a cashback card
• You've already received the welcome bonus: without that one-time 250,000 points it's much harder to accumulate enough points for a Japan trip in the short term
• You can't meet the minimum spend of €4,000-6,000 in three months with expenses you would have had anyway

For those it does suit: regular travellers (3+ flights per year), families who take one big trip per year and use the card for daily expenses the rest of the year, or business travellers who spend a lot anyway. More about who does and doesn't benefit from the card can be found in our comprehensive Amex Platinum review for Belgium.

Step by step: booking Japan with Membership Rewards points

Let's get practical, because that's what matters. This is the order I would follow as a Belgian traveller.

First step: make sure you have enough points. The welcome bonus of 250,000 points via the referral link is the fastest way. On top of that, you build points through daily spending. With the Booster option (4 points per euro for €10/month) and monthly spending of €2,000, you collect 8,000 points per month on top of the welcome bonus.

Second step: choose your transfer partner. For economy I recommend ANA Mileage Club (88,000 points round-trip), or BA Avios on JAL flights if you travel off-peak (77,000 Avios). For business class, ANA is usually the sweet spot (165,000 points round-trip with low surcharges).

Third step: search for availability before you transfer. This is important. Don't transfer points to a partner if you don't yet know whether award seats are available. With ANA you can search on ana.co.jp (create an account, free). With BA you search on ba.com. Once you find an available flight, transfer the points (usually takes 24-48 hours, sometimes instant) and book immediately.

Fourth step: be flexible with dates. Japanese cherry blossoms are beautiful, but award availability during that period is minimal. Consider June (before the rainy season, which is actually quite manageable in Kyoto), September, or January-February (quiet, cold but clear, fewer tourists). The point prices at ANA are also lower in low season: 88,000 vs 95,000 in economy.

Fifth step: don't forget the extras. The Amex Platinum offers lounge access at Brussels Airport (handy for early flights) and at your connecting airport. In Frankfurt you have access to various Priority Pass lounges, in London Heathrow as well. That makes a long layover much more bearable, especially if your partner or family is travelling with you (1 guest free).

Frequently asked questions: booking Japan with Amex Membership Rewards