That would be the jet stream.
You can travel either way and arrive there, but the trip is much shorter if you travel east.
Because you need to travel North South on a vexular concave inverted plane of the diagonal.
East
You can reach the US in either direction from the IDL. But the trip to any point in the US is shorter if you travel east from it.
To the East; by plane, New York-London-Bucharest.
You would be traveling east by plane or boat.
You travel East from almost anywhere in Alaska to get to Canada. The Exception being if you were in, say, Juneau (The Capitol) (or anywhere else in that dogleg of Alaska) You could then travel, only by Plane, EITHER North, South or East, depending on where in Canada you wish to go.
If you travel east, you will hit approx. 17 timezones. Of course, it will be shorter if you travel west. Traveling west, you hit approx. 7 timezones.
the soil composition is different in the two regions
You would travel East on a plane. You would go East going from Japan to the US.
Probably not because you're still in the earth's atmosphere but I'm not sure
you will travel east