Japanese e-commerce juggernaut Rakuten has huge plans to beef up its travel business which currently offers hotel bookings only, but instead of just inking deals with third-party companies to provide flight services, it is now plunging straight into the airline business. Rakuten announced today that it is purchasing an 18% stake in AirAsia Japan, a new low-cost carrier set to be launched in the country by AirAsia. The company isn’t disclosing how much its investment amount is, but AirAsia Japan plans to raise a total capital amount of JPY7 billion ($69 million). AirAsia itself operates 208 routes in 18 countries...

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