Peach and Air Asia Japan have their sights not only on domestic flights but also on the route between Tokyo and Seoul, the nearest foreign capital.

ECONOMIST: Can low-cost airlines beat bullet trains?

Peach, which started flying in March, and Air Asia Japan, which starts in August, are part-owned by ANA, one of Japan's two main carriers.

ECONOMIST: Can low-cost airlines beat bullet trains?

His chance to flee their Dickensian gloom comes with the appearance of a magic peach in the garden: he crawls inside, where he finds a posse of insect friends, and travels by air and sea to an improbably benign New York.

NEWYORKER: James and the Giant Peach