[Troo]

The clue is in the question. You want to fly for Christmas. Check out the flight costs at less demanding times of the year and I suspect you'll find they're far more reasonable.

Yay Capitalism!

I've tiddled around with the Virgin Atlantic booking thing, and they seem to be responding to the demand for English people wanting to go home for Christmas - A return TO Tokyo for Christmas is the usual £630, but FROM Tokyo is 410,000 Yen. One-way flights aren't an option either, as that's also stupid expensive.

Try a Japanese airline. You may find their situation is the exact opposite. I wouldn't count on it, though, as Christmas isn't such a pressing concern for the Japanese, and they are likely to have also cottoned on to English in Japan wanting to go home for this "family" time.