San Francisco to Tokyo (SFO–NRT): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

SFO → NRT

11 h 25 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 303° (WNW).

Leave San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Tokyo Sun 8 Nov, 14:25 local +1 day.

NRT → SFO

9 h 35 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 55° (NE).

Leave Tokyo Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 02:35 local.

NRT-bound flights are the slower direction by about 110 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	8,227 km · 5,112 mi · 4,442 nmi
Initial heading	303° (WNW) from SFO; 55° (NE) from NRT
Farthest from the equator	48.4°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	41% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

SFO	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 San Francisco 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 SFO → 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

SFO San Francisco International AirportSan Francisco, United States · longest runway 11,870 ft3,618 m

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

Same cities, other airports

SFOHND San Francisco – Tokyo 8,286 km5,148 mi · 11 h 30 min

More routes from SFO and NRT

LAXSFO Los Angeles – San Francisco 543 km338 mi · 1 h 45 min SFOORD San Francisco – Chicago 2,964 km1,842 mi · 4 h 05 min JFKSFO New York – San Francisco 4,152 km2,580 mi · 6 h 20 min SFOAMS San Francisco – Amsterdam 8,785 km5,459 mi · 10 h 35 min SFOPVG San Francisco – Shanghai 9,877 km6,138 mi · 13 h 20 min SFOSIN San Francisco – Singapore 13,582 km8,439 mi · 17 h 45 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 LAXNRT Los Angeles – Tokyo 8,753 km5,439 mi · 12 h 05 min JFKNRT New York – Tokyo 10,830 km6,729 mi · 13 h 50 min

Routes of a similar length

JFKACC New York – Accra 8,222 km5,109 mi · 9 h 50 min YVRICN Vancouver – Seoul 8,200 km5,095 mi · 11 h DFWFRA Dallas–Fort Worth – Frankfurt 8,258 km5,131 mi · 9 h 50 min CDGPEK Paris – Beijing 8,190 km5,089 mi · 9 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).

SFO San Francisco ⇄ NRT Tokyo