New York to Tokyo distance

New York to Tokyo in a straight line

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, New York and Tokyo are 6,756 miles (10,873 km) apart, 27% of the way around the Earth at the equator. That’s the geodesic on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the distance “as the crow flies”. There’s no road between them: the straight line crosses 1,932 mi of sea, 29% of the way.

From New York, Tokyo lies to the northwest (bearing 333°), and from Tokyo, New York lies to the northeast. The straight line reaches Tokyo on a bearing of 205°: the bearing keeps turning along the way (128° in all), which is why the shortest route looks curved on a flat map.

If the plane kept the same bearing all the way (268°, to the west), it would follow the rhumb line, the one that looks straight on a Mercator map: 7,965 miles (12,818 km), 1,209 mi more (18% longer). That’s why long routes don’t look “straight” on a map: the curve is the short way.

What the route flies over

Under the straight line there are 1,932 mi of sea (29%) and 4,824 mi of land. In order, from New York: 851 mi over the United States, 2,361 mi over Canada, 1,261 mi over Russia, and 351 mi over Japan.

The straight line climbs to 69.9° N (at 69.9051° N, 146.1330° W), 29.2° farther north than New York: on a sphere that’s the short way, even if it looks like a detour on a flat map. It crosses the 180th meridian, which most of the International Date Line follows: going west across it, the calendar jumps a day ahead. Planes don’t follow the line exactly: they fly along airways, chase tailwinds and avoid closed airspace, but on long flights they stay close to it.

Halfway between New York and Tokyo

Halfway along the straight line, 3,378 miles (5,436 km) from each city, is the point 69.7224° N, 153.6448° W. It falls in the United States, far from anywhere: the nearest town is Nuiqsut (Alaska, pop. 481), 70.9 mi away.

Time difference and flight

A direct flight would take about 14 hr 5 min. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 10,873 km straight line at 800 km/h (about 497 mph), a typical airliner cruising speed. Real schedules depend on wind, routing and airports, and not every pair has a direct flight. Westbound flights usually take a little longer than eastbound ones because of high-altitude winds (the jet stream).

In January, Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of New York; in July, 13 hours ahead of New York. It changes because they don’t switch to summer time together.

With that flight time, if you leave New York at 10:00, you land in Tokyo around 14:05 the next day (Tokyo time) in January and around 13:05 the next day in July.

The two cities

Tokyo is 5.0° farther south than New York and 146.3° farther west. New York has 8.6 million people (Census Bureau estimate for 2025) and Tokyo 9.7 million people (GeoNames).