Time Zones in Japan
Japan spans one time zone (UTC+9) among the 2 cities tracked on Live Time Map. None of them observe daylight saving time, so their offsets stay the same all year. See the live local time for each city below, or use the interactive map to compare any of them against your own location.
Japan facts
- Currency
- Japanese yen (JPY)
- Languages
- Japanese
- Calling code
- +81
- Time zones on this site
- 1
Clock time and solar time in Japan
A country's clocks are a political choice, not an astronomical one, so they rarely line up with its own sun. Measured against local solar time, the clock in Osaka runs 2 minutes behind the sun, while in Tokyo it runs 19 minutes behind the sun.
That is a spread of 17 minutes between the two ends of Japan's tracked cities, all of it the result of longitude rather than of the clock. The wider that gap, the more one shared office schedule means genuinely different amounts of morning light depending on where you are.
How much daylight changes through the year
Daylight is governed by latitude, not by the clock. Tokyo, at 35.7° north, gets 14 hours 35 minutes of daylight on the longest day of the year and 9 hours 44 minutes on the shortest.
That swing is the same whatever the clock says, which is why daylight saving moves working hours around inside the day without creating a single extra minute of light.
Cities in Japan
Want to compare a city here against your own location? Open the interactive world time zone map to pin it live.
Frequently asked questions
How many time zones does Japan have?
Japan uses a single time zone among the cities tracked here: UTC+9.
Does Japan observe daylight saving time?
No, none of the cities tracked here observe daylight saving time.
Do clocks in Japan match the sun?
Clocks and the sun are not the same thing. In Tokyo the clock runs 19 minutes behind local solar time, so midday on the clock is not the moment the sun is highest.
How much does daylight change through the year in Japan?
In Tokyo, the longest day of the year has 14 hours 35 minutes of daylight and the shortest has 9 hours 44 minutes.