Madrid → Tokyo
— A European hub keeps it short; a Gulf hub often keeps it cheap.
Madrid to Tokyo splits cleanly into two families. Route through Frankfurt or Istanbul and you fly a short leg then one long one, landing about fifteen or sixteen hours after leaving. Route through the Gulf and you fly two long legs and add a couple of hours — but you price into a market that treats Madrid as one origin among many.
The candidates
— 4 hubs worth putting in the same search
Lufthansa, ANA
The shortest total of the four. A quick hop out of Madrid then one long leg, with a reliable transfer.
Turkish Airlines
Slightly longer than Frankfurt and usually cheaper. The best compromise of the four if you want neither extreme.
Emirates
Two long legs. Rarely the fastest, but frequently the cheapest way into Tokyo from Spain.
Qatar Airways
The same shape as Dubai with a tighter connection, and generally the strongest business-class value of the four.
Totals include one connection and are approximate — schedules and layovers move. No fares here on purpose: they change daily, and the planner quotes them live rather than from this page.
Why the hub decides it
— and why one airline's site cannot tell you
Because the two families have such different shapes, the fastest routing and the cheapest routing are rarely the same one, and the gap between them moves constantly. Booking the obvious European connection without checking the Gulf alternative means never finding out what the extra two hours were worth on your date.
When to go
— the part a fare table will not tell you
Cherry blossom in late March and early April, and the autumn colour in November, are the two clear peaks. Japan's Golden Week in early May prices like a holiday because it is one. The Gulf routings hold their price better across these spikes than the European ones do.
Questions
— Madrid to Tokyo, briefly
Is there a nonstop from Madrid to Tokyo?
Service has come and gone. Plan on connecting and treat any nonstop you find as a bonus to be priced against the one-stops.
Should I fly into Haneda or Narita?
Haneda is far closer to central Tokyo and worth a modest premium. Some routings only offer Narita, so it is worth comparing the two as different arrivals rather than the same city.
What is the shortest routing?
Frankfurt, usually — a short first leg and a single long one, around 15 to 17 hours in total.
Price MAD — HND across every hub at once
One search runs FRA, IST, DXB, DOH against live Google Flights data and lays them side by side — fare, total time, cabin, operating airline. You book at the airline, at their price.
More from the atlas
Amsterdam → Mauritius
One short hop to Paris, or a long detour east — both land you in Mauritius the same morning.
LHR — MLELondon → Malé
Four hubs, one beach — and a fare spread that regularly runs to three figures.
BER — BKKBerlin → Bangkok
No nonstop exists, so the connection decides both the fare and the hour you land.