diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js
index bf47b980ba1a..812fa605a6af 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js
@@ -613,7 +613,7 @@ export default class ExpressionParser extends LValParser {
     } else if (this.match(tt.questionDot)) {
       this.expectPlugin("optionalChaining");
       state.optionalChainMember = true;
-      if (noCalls && this.lookahead().type === tt.parenL) {
+      if (noCalls && this.lookaheadCharCode() === charCodes.leftParenthesis) {
         state.stop = true;
         return base;
       }
diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/statement.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/statement.js
index bfadb601dbcf..8ce0c9d64418 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/statement.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/statement.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import {
   isIdentifierStart,
   keywordRelationalOperator,
 } from "../util/identifier";
-import { lineBreak, skipWhiteSpace } from "../util/whitespace";
+import { lineBreak } from "../util/whitespace";
 import * as charCodes from "charcodes";
 import {
   BIND_CLASS,
@@ -105,10 +105,7 @@ export default class StatementParser extends ExpressionParser {
     if (!this.isContextual("let")) {
       return false;
     }
-    skipWhiteSpace.lastIndex = this.state.pos;
-    const skip = skipWhiteSpace.exec(this.input);
-    // $FlowIgnore
-    const next = this.state.pos + skip[0].length;
+    const next = this.nextTokenStart();
     const nextCh = this.input.charCodeAt(next);
     // For ambiguous cases, determine if a LexicalDeclaration (or only a
     // Statement) is allowed here. If context is not empty then only a Statement
@@ -170,7 +167,7 @@ export default class StatementParser extends ExpressionParser {
       case tt._for:
         return this.parseForStatement(node);
       case tt._function:
-        if (this.lookahead().type === tt.dot) break;
+        if (this.lookaheadCharCode() === charCodes.dot) break;
         if (context) {
           if (this.state.strict) {
             this.raise(
@@ -223,8 +220,11 @@ export default class StatementParser extends ExpressionParser {
         return this.parseEmptyStatement(node);
       case tt._export:
       case tt._import: {
-        const nextToken = this.lookahead();
-        if (nextToken.type === tt.parenL || nextToken.type === tt.dot) {
+        const nextTokenCharCode = this.lookaheadCharCode();
+        if (
+          nextTokenCharCode === charCodes.leftParenthesis ||
+          nextTokenCharCode === charCodes.dot
+        ) {
           break;
         }
 
@@ -1746,11 +1746,11 @@ export default class StatementParser extends ExpressionParser {
   maybeParseExportDeclaration(node: N.Node): boolean {
     if (this.shouldParseExportDeclaration()) {
       if (this.isContextual("async")) {
-        const next = this.lookahead();
+        const next = this.nextTokenStart();
 
         // export async;
-        if (next.type !== tt._function) {
-          this.unexpected(next.start, `Unexpected token, expected "function"`);
+        if (!this.isUnparsedContextual(next, "function")) {
+          this.unexpected(next, `Unexpected token, expected "function"`);
         }
       }
 
@@ -1765,21 +1765,10 @@ export default class StatementParser extends ExpressionParser {
 
   isAsyncFunction(): boolean {
     if (!this.isContextual("async")) return false;
-
-    const { pos } = this.state;
-
-    skipWhiteSpace.lastIndex = pos;
-    const skip = skipWhiteSpace.exec(this.input);
-
-    if (!skip || !skip.length) return false;
-
-    const next = pos + skip[0].length;
-
+    const next = this.nextTokenStart();
     return (
-      !lineBreak.test(this.input.slice(pos, next)) &&
-      this.input.slice(next, next + 8) === "function" &&
-      (next + 8 === this.length ||
-        !isIdentifierChar(this.input.charCodeAt(next + 8)))
+      !lineBreak.test(this.input.slice(this.state.pos, next)) &&
+      this.isUnparsedContextual(next, "function")
     );
   }
 
@@ -1841,10 +1830,10 @@ export default class StatementParser extends ExpressionParser {
       return false;
     }
 
-    const lookahead = this.lookahead();
+    const next = this.nextTokenStart();
     return (
-      lookahead.type === tt.comma ||
-      (lookahead.type === tt.name && lookahead.value === "from")
+      this.input.charCodeAt(next) === charCodes.comma ||
+      this.isUnparsedContextual(next, "from")
     );
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/util.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/util.js
index 41e19c1a3c2e..d66671551ee2 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/util.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/util.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import { types as tt, type TokenType } from "../tokenizer/types";
 import Tokenizer from "../tokenizer";
 import type { Node } from "../types";
 import { lineBreak, skipWhiteSpace } from "../util/whitespace";
+import { isIdentifierChar } from "../util/identifier";
+import * as charCodes from "charcodes";
 
 const literal = /^('|")((?:\\?.)*?)\1/;
 
@@ -26,8 +28,15 @@ export default class UtilParser extends Tokenizer {
   }
 
   isLookaheadRelational(op: "<" | ">"): boolean {
-    const l = this.lookahead();
-    return l.type === tt.relational && l.value === op;
+    const next = this.nextTokenStart();
+    if (this.input.charAt(next) === op) {
+      if (next + 1 === this.input.length) {
+        return true;
+      }
+      const afterNext = this.input.charCodeAt(next + 1);
+      return afterNext !== op.charCodeAt(0) && afterNext !== charCodes.equalsTo;
+    }
+    return false;
   }
 
   // TODO
@@ -60,9 +69,18 @@ export default class UtilParser extends Tokenizer {
     );
   }
 
+  isUnparsedContextual(nameStart: number, name: string): boolean {
+    const nameEnd = nameStart + name.length;
+    return (
+      this.input.slice(nameStart, nameEnd) === name &&
+      (nameEnd === this.input.length ||
+        !isIdentifierChar(this.input.charCodeAt(nameEnd)))
+    );
+  }
+
   isLookaheadContextual(name: string): boolean {
-    const l = this.lookahead();
-    return l.type === tt.name && l.value === name;
+    const next = this.nextTokenStart();
+    return this.isUnparsedContextual(next, name);
   }
 
   // Consumes contextual keyword if possible.
diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/plugins/typescript/index.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/plugins/typescript/index.js
index 3ac78d17474a..1eedd15b83c4 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/plugins/typescript/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/plugins/typescript/index.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   BIND_CLASS,
 } from "../../util/scopeflags";
 import TypeScriptScopeHandler from "./scope";
+import * as charCodes from "charcodes";
 
 type TsModifier =
   | "readonly"
@@ -657,7 +658,10 @@ export default (superClass: Class<Parser>): Class<Parser> =>
             : this.match(tt._null)
             ? "TSNullKeyword"
             : keywordTypeFromName(this.state.value);
-          if (type !== undefined && this.lookahead().type !== tt.dot) {
+          if (
+            type !== undefined &&
+            this.lookaheadCharCode() !== charCodes.dot
+          ) {
             const node: N.TsKeywordType = this.startNode();
             this.next();
             return this.finishNode(node, type);
@@ -1203,7 +1207,8 @@ export default (superClass: Class<Parser>): Class<Parser> =>
 
     tsIsExternalModuleReference(): boolean {
       return (
-        this.isContextual("require") && this.lookahead().type === tt.parenL
+        this.isContextual("require") &&
+        this.lookaheadCharCode() === charCodes.leftParenthesis
       );
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js
index 3fdced8aaffd..1d2ea02212fd 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/tokenizer/index.js
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
   lineBreakG,
   isNewLine,
   isWhitespace,
+  skipWhiteSpace,
 } from "../util/whitespace";
 import State from "./state";
 
@@ -168,6 +169,18 @@ export default class Tokenizer extends LocationParser {
     return curr;
   }
 
+  nextTokenStart(): number {
+    const thisTokEnd = this.state.pos;
+    skipWhiteSpace.lastIndex = thisTokEnd;
+    const skip = skipWhiteSpace.exec(this.input);
+    // $FlowIgnore: The skipWhiteSpace ensures to match any string
+    return thisTokEnd + skip[0].length;
+  }
+
+  lookaheadCharCode(): number {
+    return this.input.charCodeAt(this.nextTokenStart());
+  }
+
   // Toggle strict mode. Re-reads the next number or string to please
   // pedantic tests (`"use strict"; 010;` should fail).
 
@@ -267,13 +280,7 @@ export default class Tokenizer extends LocationParser {
     const startLoc = this.state.curPosition();
     let ch = this.input.charCodeAt((this.state.pos += startSkip));
     if (this.state.pos < this.length) {
-      while (
-        ch !== charCodes.lineFeed &&
-        ch !== charCodes.carriageReturn &&
-        ch !== charCodes.lineSeparator &&
-        ch !== charCodes.paragraphSeparator &&
-        ++this.state.pos < this.length
-      ) {
+      while (!isNewLine(ch) && ++this.state.pos < this.length) {
         ch = this.input.charCodeAt(this.state.pos);
       }
     }
@@ -441,13 +448,7 @@ export default class Tokenizer extends LocationParser {
     let ch = this.input.charCodeAt(this.state.pos);
     if (ch !== charCodes.exclamationMark) return false;
 
-    while (
-      ch !== charCodes.lineFeed &&
-      ch !== charCodes.carriageReturn &&
-      ch !== charCodes.lineSeparator &&
-      ch !== charCodes.paragraphSeparator &&
-      ++this.state.pos < this.length
-    ) {
+    while (!isNewLine(ch) && ++this.state.pos < this.length) {
       ch = this.input.charCodeAt(this.state.pos);
     }