I wind up flying this at least one direction on my North Asia trips (usually evening flight home back to US) since I am PacNW based OneWorld flyer and flying through SFO or LAX for a JL flight means loads of backtracking. Due to scheduling constraints on my next trip I will take it both ways, the two consolations are (1) damn cheap fare (US$3200 to SIN w 2 day stopover in Tokyo on return) and (2) this route has gobs of award seats in business class because of the weak product and so I can bring my wife along rather last minute, getting seats on exact same flights as me for a not so bad pile of AA miles.
I find the Fri/Sat flights back from NRT to be nearly vacant upfront, usually get a pair of seats for eating and one pair for sleeping...