I think we may have to sadly give Chitose a miss looking at travel costs and travel time for my friends and I. Would have to devote a whole trip to Hokkaido at somepoint for it to be worthwhile. Maybe 2014 lol.
I am however open to any suggestions as we will be exploring the Osaka side of Japan which is unkown territory to us. Plus if any of my buddies from JF are out and about Japan in August 2012 it would be awesome to meet up for a drink etc