rjtjrt - yes, I'm a bloke - to be fair to Flapping, it wasn't the most direct connection. It was the cheapest. I could have flown to POM (Port Moresby, PNG) from Singapore and Manila (I think). But not on the days I wanted to travel. Also there seemed to be lots of Japanese people transiting at POM (budget traveler types) so I assume that there was some sort of route available there (i.e. from POM to Japan) as well, but I couldn't find it at the time.
The nice thing about it was that the return JAL flight included bed and breakfast in the Kansai airport hotel.