Los Angeles to Tokyo (LAX–NRT): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

LAX → NRT

12 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 306° (NW).

Leave Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Tokyo Sun 8 Nov, 15:05 local +1 day.

NRT → LAX

10 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 56° (NE).

Leave Tokyo Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 03:05 local.

NRT-bound flights are the slower direction by about 115 minutes in our estimate: the route runs mostly east–west through latitudes where the prevailing westerly winds at cruise height are strong, so heading east rides a tailwind and heading west fights a headwind. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance	8,753 km · 5,439 mi · 4,726 nmi
Initial heading	306° (NW) from LAX; 56° (NE) from NRT
Farthest from the equator	47.7°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	44% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LAX	America/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
NRT	Asia/Tokyo — UTC+9 now; UTC+9 all year (no daylight saving time)
Difference	Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles today; +17 h in January and +16 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LAX → NRT. The clock change is 16 hours, but to your body that is a shift of 8 hours the other way. Your body clock has to move 8 hours later, like a westward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 8 days to fully adjust. Shifting later (as here) is usually the easier direction; evening daylight at the destination helps. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

LAX Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles, United States · longest runway 12,894 ft3,930 m

NRT Narita International AirportTokyo, Japan · longest runway 13,123 ft4,000 m

Same cities, other airports

LAXHND Los Angeles – Tokyo 8,812 km5,476 mi · 12 h 10 min

More routes from LAX and NRT

LAXLAS Los Angeles – Las Vegas 380 km236 mi · 1 h 25 min LAXSEA Los Angeles – Seattle 1,537 km955 mi · 2 h 50 min EWRLAX Newark – Los Angeles 3,941 km2,449 mi · 6 h 05 min LAXAMS Los Angeles – Amsterdam 8,956 km5,565 mi · 10 h 45 min LAXTPE Los Angeles – Taipei 10,922 km6,787 mi · 14 h 40 min LAXSIN Los Angeles – Singapore 14,102 km8,762 mi · 18 h 25 min ICNNRT Seoul – Tokyo 1,257 km781 mi · 2 h 20 min PVGNRT Shanghai – Tokyo 1,796 km1,116 mi · 2 h 55 min HKGNRT Hong Kong – Tokyo 2,962 km1,841 mi · 4 h 10 min HNLNRT Honolulu – Tokyo 6,136 km3,813 mi · 8 h 40 min SFONRT San Francisco – Tokyo 8,227 km5,112 mi · 11 h 25 min JFKNRT New York – Tokyo 10,830 km6,729 mi · 13 h 50 min

Routes of a similar length

CDGJNB Paris – Johannesburg 8,737 km5,429 mi · 10 h 50 min SFOAMS San Francisco – Amsterdam 8,785 km5,459 mi · 10 h 35 min LHRCMB London – Colombo 8,715 km5,415 mi · 10 h 20 min FRAJNB Frankfurt – Johannesburg 8,690 km5,400 mi · 10 h 50 min

Need a different pair? The flight-time calculator works for any two of 3,245 airports. Not covered: which airlines fly this route, schedules, fares and live status — that data is proprietary and we don’t guess it.

Photos on airport pages are credited there. Estimates are rounded to 5 minutes; typical error about 13 minutes (validation).

LAX Los Angeles ⇄ NRT Tokyo