The ever-growing number of Japanese tourists visiting Fiji will have at least six to eight hours knocked off their journey to the Pacific island starting this summer.
At present, journeys to the republic require a stopover and take around 15 to 17 hours. But from July 3, the trip will take just nine hours as Fiji Airways will start direct flights, three-times a week, between Narita airport near Tokyo and Nadi, on the west coast of the main island.
"The Japanese and Fijian cultures get on so well," Matthew Stoeckel, chief executive officer of Tourism Fiji, told Kyodo News last week during the Fiji Coral Coast Sevens at Sigatoka's Lawaqa Park.