San Francisco to Tokyo flight path
Along the shortest route, the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo covers 5,150 miles (8,290 km) — about 10 h 00 min with no wind. It crosses the Pacific Ocean: 99% of the route is over water. Today you leave on UTC−7 and land on UTC+9.
Get Modo Avión for Android Share this route
From San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND) · SFO · HND
- Great-circle distance
- 8,290 km
- Duration, no wind
- 10 h 00 min
- Over water
- 99 %
- Time difference today
- +16 h
The route drawn is the theoretical one — the shortest path on the sphere. The real aircraft follows airways, avoids storms and closed airspace, and rides the wind: it can be hundreds of kilometres off.
What countries do you fly over from San Francisco to Tokyo?
- United States
- Japan
- Pacific Ocean
Which side of the plane to sit on to see Mount Fuji
To see Mount Fuji (3,776 m), sit on the right: it lies about 39 km from the route, ≈ 9 h 45 min into the flight.
—
- Iwaki ≈ 9 h 35 min
- Mito ≈ 9 h 40 min
- Suginami ≈ 9 h 40 min
- Utsunomiya ≈ 9 h 40 min
- Mount Fuji (3,776 m) ≈ 9 h 45 min
Left and right facing forward, on the theoretical route. Times are from take-off, with no wind.
Leg by leg
LandWaterCity, with its distance from the routePeakClock change
See the full list, leg by leg
- Take-off from San Francisco International Airport
- Below: Pacific Coast Ranges0 km · ≈ 15 min into the flight
- Pacific Ocean — 8,180 km without land28 km · ≈ 17 min into the flight
- Below: Japan7,950 km · ≈ 9 h 25 min into the flight
- Iwaki, Japan — on the right, 80 km away8,110 km · ≈ 9 h 35 min into the flight
- Local time below changes: UTC−7 to UTC+98,180 km · ≈ 9 h 40 min into the flight
- Mito, Japan — on the right, 38 km away8,190 km · ≈ 9 h 40 min into the flight
- Below: Honshu8,200 km · ≈ 9 h 40 min into the flight
- Land again8,200 km · ≈ 9 h 40 min into the flight
- Suginami, Japan — on the right, 33 km away8,210 km · ≈ 9 h 40 min into the flight
- Utsunomiya, Japan — on the right, 87 km away8,210 km · ≈ 9 h 40 min into the flight
- Landing at Tokyo Haneda International Airport8,290 km · ≈ 9 h 45 min into the flight
- Mount Fuji, 3,776 m — on the right, 39 km away8,290 km · ≈ 9 h 45 min into the flight
Times assume a typical jet speed, no wind and an on-time departure. Good for orientation, not for your watch.
Which side the sun, sunrise or sunset will be on
Enter the day and take-off time. Your phone does the maths: the sun's position on every leg of the route, relative to the nose of the aircraft.
Sky: light is daytime, amber is sunrise or sunset, dark is night. Left and Right show which side the sun is on for each leg.
Follow the route offline in airplane mode
All of this on board and with no signal: with your phone in airplane mode, Modo Avión shows where you are, what's below and how long is left. GPS still works, because it only listens to satellites.
Free · no account · no ads · 28.4 MB · Android 8 or newer
Arriving in Tokyo
.jpg){kind=link}
Flight time and distance
About 10 h 00 min with no wind, including half an hour of taxi, climb and descent. On a long flight the wind aloft can change that by more than an hour, differently each way.
5,150 miles (8,290 km, 4,470 nautical miles) along the great circle. The real flight covers a little more because it follows airways.
Time zones you cross
| km | Time | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| 0 km | UTC−7 | Los Angeles |
| 8,180 km | UTC+9 | Tokyo |
Airspace (FIRs) along the route
Each is a control region: when the aircraft crosses the boundary, the centre talking to the pilot changes. Boundaries are approximate, from the VATSIM data set, not the official ICAO chart.
- Oakland
- Oakland Oceanic
- Tokyo Oceanic
- Fukuoka
FAQ
Where does the plane fly from San Francisco to Tokyo?
Along the shortest route, the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo covers 5,150 miles (8,290 km) — about 10 h 00 min with no wind. It crosses the Pacific Ocean: 99% of the route is over water. Today you leave on UTC−7 and land on UTC+9.
What countries do you fly over from San Francisco to Tokyo?
It passes over or close to the United States and Japan, and crosses the Pacific Ocean. This is the theoretical route: the aircraft may deviate for wind or closed airspace.
How long is the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo?
About 10 h 00 min with no wind, including half an hour of taxi, climb and descent. On a long flight the wind aloft can change that by more than an hour, differently each way.
How far is San Francisco from Tokyo by plane?
5,150 miles (8,290 km, 4,470 nautical miles) along the great circle. The real flight covers a little more because it follows airways.
How much of the flight is over water?
99% of the route, about 8,200 km. The longest stretch without land is 8,180 km.
Why doesn't the plane fly in a straight line on the map?
It does fly straight — on a sphere. On a flat map the shortest path looks curved; on the globe on this page it looks like what it is.
Does GPS work in airplane mode?
Yes. GPS is a receiver: it listens to satellites and transmits nothing, so it keeps working in airplane mode. What you won't have is a map unless you downloaded it; Modo Avión carries its own.
More routes
The way back: Tokyo → San Francisco
- Buenos Aires → Tokyo
- Mexico City → Tokyo
- Madrid → Tokyo
- Los Angeles → Tokyo
- New York → Tokyo
- London → Tokyo
- Chicago → Tokyo
Look up another route
How this was calculated
The route is the great-circle arc between both airports, split into 300 points. At each point a point-in-polygon test runs against 1,102 airspace regions, 418 time zones and 1,338 physical geography regions. Countries are those with a town within 25 km of the route: in empty areas one may be missing. Cities named have over 250,000 people and lie within 110 km.