Jet lag from Tokyo to Toronto: what to expect

How long does jet lag last from Tokyo to Toronto?

Your clock will adapt the long way round: later each day, not earlier.

Unaided, eastward shifts settle at around a day per time zone: about 10 days for this one. S6 S7

Your body can't go faster than ~10 days here. The plan's job is making them livable: protected sleep, no wrong-way light, functional days.

That's what the plan aims at, not a promise — bodies vary.

On night one, the afternoon you land, the plan's bedtime is 15:00, early by Toronto's clock, and it moves later night by night, reaching 23:00 by night 11.

Studies of aircrew point the same way: after large shifts, westward adaptation runs roughly 50% faster than eastward S6 S8. It's why the plan goes the long way round here.

What does the plan say for a typical Tokyo to Toronto flight?

Departs

08:25 Tokyo time

Lands

07:30 Toronto time

In the air

about 13h 05m (estimate)

Light, landing day

12:35–13:35 Seek bright light (delay shift)

Keep it dim, landing day

23:00–01:00 Avoid bright light (sunglasses / dim room)

Last caffeine, landing day

07:00 on the plane

Caffeine after landing

23:00–12:00 landing night into the next day

First night's sleep

15:00–23:00 the afternoon you land

Eastbound long-hauls tend to land in the morning, so this example lands in Toronto at 07:30, leaving Tokyo at 08:25 the day before, after about 13h 05m in the air.

The flight time is our estimate for a nonstop from the distance, and the trip is set in January. It's the default traveler from the calculator: usually asleep 23:00 to 07:00, no melatonin, Real Life effort.

You cross the date line going the other way, so you land on the same date you took off, at an earlier clock time than you left.

In July the gap is 11 hours, not 10, because Toronto moves its clocks and Tokyo doesn't.

On board, the plan keeps you awake apart from a short nap at 19:55 Toronto time, saving the real sleep for the night in Toronto.

The day before you fly, the plan keeps your morning dim, 07:00–09:00 Tokyo time, and the sun is up in Tokyo by about 06:46 in January, so plan on sunglasses for the commute.

Your last coffee on the plane is at 07:00 Toronto time. After you land the plan opens caffeine again at 23:00, until 12:00 the next day: at 23:00 your body thinks it's 13:00 in Tokyo, the middle of its day, and the plan keeps you up through the night on purpose.

January days are short in Toronto: about 9 hours of daylight. In January the sun is up in Toronto from about 07:45 to 17:12, so the 12:35 light step on landing day is daylight. Outside is the easy way to get it.

What helps after flying east to Toronto?

Because the plan moves your clock later, the light advice for westward trips applies here, even though you fly east: light before your body's low point, which usually means bright light in the evening and staying up a little later S1. Bright light first thing in the morning works against you. East vs west explains the mechanism, and the plan's light steps above already follow it.

And the flight home from Toronto?

Toronto to Tokyo is the same 10 hours the other way, westward. It's the easier direction: about 7 days unaided, and the plan targets 6. Jet lag from Toronto to Tokyo has the details.

More routes from Tokyo

• Tokyo to London
• Tokyo to Los Angeles
• Tokyo to Istanbul
• Tokyo to New York
• Tokyo to Chicago