Sit on the Left side of the plane for the best views on flights from Tokyo to Helsinki. The left side captures the Tokyo Bay departure spectacle and also tracks the Sea of Japan coastline and later the Russian Far East taiga during the polar routing. The right side has the better Helsinki arrival, but the Tokyo Bay departure view is the more dramatic single moment of the flight.

During takeoff from New Tokyo International (NRT), sit on the Left side for the best views. NRT's primary departure runways (34L/34R) head roughly northward, placing Tokyo Bay and the Chiba coastline on the left side. You get a clear view of the bay's broad expanse and the urban sprawl of greater Tokyo receding to the west-southwest. Notable sights include: Tokyo Bay, Chiba urban coastline, Narita city below, distant Tokyo skyline to the southwest.

When landing at Helsinki Malmi (HEM), sit on the Right side for the best views. Helsinki Malmi (HEM) is a small airport northeast of central Helsinki. Approaches from the south or southwest on runway 18 or 09 put the Helsinki city center, the harbor archipelago, and the Gulf of Finland on the right side of the aircraft. The Baltic Sea island chains are genuinely distinctive from low altitude. Notable sights include: Gulf of Finland coastline, Helsinki harbor and city center, Baltic archipelago islands, Espoo suburban sprawl.

The flight from New Tokyo International (NRT) to Helsinki Malmi (HEM) takes Approximately 11 to 12 hours.

The route follows a polar great circle track northward over Hokkaido and Sakhalin Island, then across the vast Siberian taiga and the Lena River basin, passing near Yakutsk. The flight crosses the Verkhoyansk mountain range in eastern Siberia, then the Central Siberian Plateau, before descending toward the Baltic over Finland. The Ural Mountains may be visible depending on exact routing. Much of the flight is over featureless boreal forest and tundra with river systems visible in clear conditions.