It's around 5.5-6 hours from NRT to HIJ by train once you factor in the transfers, which sounds pretty painful after a transpac flight. Not cheap either at ~21,000 yen one way (assuming Nozomi + N'EX).

It would surely be at least 3 hours by using the plane including the transfer from HIJ (which is in the mountains, not even considering the dire fare to fly on a CRJ) to the city. Now the cheapest would be to drive from Narita and take advantage of the "cheap" tolls on the highways (Pickles' cat Smidgen could drive).:)

'Cos the Pacific is too cold for swimmers in Nov.

Since it sounds as if the OP has not yet made flight reservations, there's no reason not to fly in a day early, get some sleep in Tokyo, and leave for Hiroshima first thing in the morning.

Nah, that's why companies like Body Glove are based in California. OP can't show up to his meetings in a wetsuit.:)

At what time should he go to bed?

Another option would be CX via HKG to KIX. You may have some trouble finding a reasonable J class fare though.

Seems like an awfully long way round ... and it still leaves him with a long train journey at the end...

Well, considering that the OP has looked at SQ routings and fares and is a OW flyer, it seems like a reasonable alternative that earns miles on AA including cabin bonuses.

SQ flies LAX to NRT non-stop.

I was thinking about that, but it sounds very difficult after flying across the Pacific.

:D best answer I've seen in a while. And while I very much enjoy lap swimming, no way could I make it even halfway to AVX :)

Since I found out that I can't connect in ORD on a SAN-NRT fare, this is the option I'm leaning towards, I suppose I could fly HND-HIJ or somewhere else. A coworker is flying to FUK and taking the train from there to Hiroshima, and people have suggested KIX arlier in this thread.

I can get an I fare on AA for under $4k (SQ has an identical fare on special) but CX and JL (and even UA) are much more expensive.

If you can get to FUK, the shinkansen from Hakata (Fukuoka Station) to Hiroshima is just a little over an hour and under $90.00, not counting the link from FUK into town. I just don't know what connections you can get to FUK on AA. It looks like they would put you on an ANA regional partner for that last leg NRT-FUK.

Northwest can get you LAX-KIX via HNL but you be flying Northworst. :p

Riding train is much easier than plane, no security searches, no announcements to turn your gadgets off, no one telling you to sit down and buckle up. If you get on a N700, it will go 300km/hr after Kobe.

JL codeshares with AA as they are both Oneworld (for now) partners. NRT/FUK is served twice daily on both JL and NH(make sure to get a through fare to FUK as the flights to FUK from NRT fill up fast). From FUK airport you can take the subway (250 Yen) to JR Hakata in 5 minutes and then take a Nozomi or Hikari Railstar to Hiroshima. Not a difficult transfer at all, and nothing like the transfer to train in Tokyo !

If you fly AA, you're eligible for the oneworld Visit Japan fare, which cuts the cost of any domestic ticket down to Y10,000. But if there are no suitable NRT-HIJ flights, transferring from NRT to HND is a time-consuming hassle.

The cheapest would be to do what I did in my student days and hitchhike it...