Does Japan use daylight saving time?
Japan does not observe daylight saving time. Here's why, what it means for scheduling, and how its UTC+9 offset stays constant all year.
3 min read
No — Japan does not currently observe daylight saving time (DST). Japan Standard Time (JST) stays at UTC+9 all year round, so the offset never shifts in spring or autumn.
A short history
Japan briefly experimented with daylight saving between 1948 and 1951 during the post-war occupation, but it was unpopular and abolished. Proposals to reintroduce it have surfaced since, but none have been adopted.
Why this matters for scheduling
Because JST is fixed, the time difference between Japan and countries that do change their clocks shifts twice a year. For example, the gap between Tokyo and London is 9 hours during UK winter but 8 hours during UK summer, because the UK moves to British Summer Time while Japan stays put.
- Tokyo is always UTC+9.
- The difference to DST-observing regions changes when those regions spring forward or fall back.
- Always confirm using a live converter rather than a fixed number you memorized.
This is exactly why this site calculates every offset live from the IANA time zone database instead of hardcoding numbers — so a difference like Tokyo–London is always correct for today's date.
Try the tools
Put this into practice with our free, always-accurate time zone tools.