What a great exploration, and fantastic photos. Wow, you know that is the great thing about living in Europe—you can travel to so many interesting places fairly cheaply. I have a few options here, but all of them more than that flight cost you. I think the cheapest flight I can get might be to Ph. I went there one year, but even that was around ¥20000 (about $200 at the time).
I'd love to get one of those mugs!
Now you mention it, we do seem to get quite a lot of good deals in Europe compared to Asia. Maybe there is more competition like rail, coach, ferry.
When I was living in Taiwan we got some ok deals to Japan, I went quire a few times for me quarterly visa runs. Who doesn't love Japan!