It’s been a banner year for Pop Japan Travel. We ran more tours in 2010 than we ever have in our eight year history, covered almost half of Japan, and welcomed more than 50 people on custom and group tours. However, the year has also been a tough one for us. We’ve seen the yen rise to a 20 year high against the dollar, sending the price of a trip to Japan through the roof. We’ve worked with our travel partners to keep prices low, but it’s been a challenge for everyone involved. We’ve been working long hours to get tours off the ground, but with the recession still on the minds of many people, it’s been tough to get people to Japan. Japanese travel companies have echoed the same concerns, and tourism to Japan is taking a significant hit.

We think it’s time for a change (You say you want a revolution? ♫).

We are proud to introduce The Pop Japan Travel Street Team. We’re recruiting volunteers from all over North America – and the world – to help spread the word about PJT. How? By hanging flyers, passing out PR info, and more. Of course, we’ll be making it a fun, cool process for everyone involved as well.

So, what’s in it for you?

Well, how about a free trip to Japan?

How it works: for each person that signs up because they saw a flyer or heard about a tour from you, you get one PJT Point. If you earn 5 PJT Points, we’ll knock $200 off the price of any tour for you. 10? We’ll knock off $500.  15? Well, if you get 15… your next tour is free. Extras are still extra of course, but you heard right – a free trip to Japan. Nice deal, huh? Other extras include:

• Members forum and discussion board
• Free promotional items for you to get started
• Special contests for you to earn PJT points
• Other freebies from PJT and Digital Manga

Help us turn this industry around! Our goal is to make sure as many people get to experience the wonders that Japan has to offer, and we would like nothing more than for you to be a part of that.

Ready to go? Then…

Sign Up Here!

As always, if you have any questions, you can always contact us at go [at] popjapantravel [dot] com for more info!

The Fine Print

• Must attain 15 PJT points an 18 month period to earn a free tour. After 18 months, your points will rollover, but they will become C-PJT points. **edit: Because we will not be running tours in 2011, the 18 month period will restart in March 2012.
• All people you sign up need to mention you or your PR effort to get you credit.
• Free trips are only eligible for group tours, not custom tours. Tour options may still cost extra.
• That’s pretty much it.
• No, really.

PJT Points

How to earn PJT points in 3 easy steps:

1. Spread the word!
We can provide promotional material for you to hand out in your area or banners to post on your website. Of course, using them is not required to tell people about PJT, but they’re free and helpful, and you can request items from us as many times as you need! When you first sign up for Street Team, we’ll send you a more detailed list on what we can provide. This list may change as ST evolves, and we’ll keep you updated!

2. Mark your territory!
So, you plan to pass out brochures at a convention or put flyers in your local anime store? Let us know so we can note that as a part of your area! When we have someone sign up for a tour, they will be asked the question: “How did you learn about Pop Japan Travel? Please let us know if you saw a banner, received a flyer, or if you heard of us from someone. =)” If they mention a place that is a part of your area, we’ll give you a point! If you don’t let us know your plans prior to a sign-up, we may not be able to give you the credit you deserve! So don’t forget to tell us your territory!*

3. Reap that harvest!
When you earn a point, we’ll e-mail you to let you know. We’ll be keeping track of points here, and you can ask us at any time how many points you’ve earned. When you reach enough points to qualify for a reward, you can use the points without losing them. For example, when you get 5 points, feel free to join a tour, get $200 off, and still keep your balance at 5 points. You can keep building, BUT if you reach a higher point value, you can no longer qualify for a lower reward. For example, by the time you’ve earned 10 points, you can only qualify for the $500 off reward and the $200 off reward becomes void. Same if you reach 15 points – you can redeem them for your free tour, but can no longer use the $500 off reward. So, it’s to your advantage to claim the rewards as you earn them so you can reap the full benefits of being a ST member!

Collaboration Points or C-PJT Points:
You’re not alone – “We’re all in this together!” ♫ So, if you want to collaborate with others to earn both of you points, you can! Additionally, PJT will be offering unique opportunities where you can earn extra credit points at cons!*

*If there are multiple team members in one territory, we will notify the members and ask if they want to collaborate. If they are interested in collaborating, the points they earn will be labeled as a C-PJT point (Collaboration PJT Point). Members can have up to 10 C-PJT Points. At least 1/5 points must be unique PJT points to earn $200 off a tour, 2/10 to earn $500 off a tour, and 5/15  to earn a free tour. Points earned through exclusive PJT opportunities will be considered C-PJT Points.

If multiple team members in one territory prefer not to collaborate, we will sort points by name, and/or will present them with promotional items with unique codes so they can be separated.

Points cannot be transferred to another Street Team member. If you would like to bring up a dispute about a point, please contact us and we will do our best to resolve the issue.