The Hawaii thing still doesn't make sense to me. OP is going to take aeons (13-15hrs) first to go to Hawaii, then another 9hr flight to TYO? Going through Hawaii is such a roundabout way (and an expensive one) to get to Jpn. And I still don't see how that helps much with clock adjustment. MSP is only a couple hrs from upstate NY, and MSP is only 2.5-3hrs longer flight to TYO than HNL, actually. By the time he gets to Hawaii, he could just about be in Jpn.

Btw, my worst is having long (7+hrs) flights back-to-back. YYZ/ORD-HKG nonstops, no problem. But when we go USA to S.Africa, it's really rough. There's something perverse about having to step onboard an 11-hr flight at LHR when you haven't had the time to recuperate from an 8-hr flight you just came off of. Of course it'd help if you're in premium cabin, but that's not how most of us travel.