What are your views on daylight saving time?

Thursday 10th July, 07:13 AM JST

Latest 15 of 59 Total Comments Show All

Patto at 11:10 AM JST - 11th July

I miss the long summer evenings spent with friends, but Japan has its own culture, and it is no good asking Japan to be just like America or Australia. Rather than enjoying a long evening, it makes sense to get to bed at an early hour, then get up at dawn and enjoy a long refreshing morning. The salarymen are going to waste almost as much electricity with a long evening as with a short one.
RepublicofTexas at 11:21 AM JST - 11th July

Japan is a country which is keen on saving the environment only in words

Japan still has a lot more to do, but all things considered she's an efficient country. Part of the problem with Japan unable to meet the demands of the Kyoto Protocol is that Japan made massive CO2 cuts and other environmental changes not long before the pact, so as Japan has less to begin with it's harder to cut large amounts.

Japan, as a big importer of natural resources, had to improve its efficiency after the 1973 oil crisis and its emissions level in 1990 was better than most developed countries.

>

However daylight saving time would definitely help.
jinjapan at 12:15 PM JST - 11th July

is there any study out there which says daylight savings time would reduce power usage ? if so, please post the link. the only complaints i hear is that the japanese salary many will actually work longer hours in summer as it will be light longer & they can't leave the office when it's light out.
Zen_Builder at 12:24 PM JST - 11th July

jinjapan.

DST was introduced many decades ago as an energy saving method it worked and also reduced the use of natural gas for cooking, etc. Granted it was initally proposed more than 100+ years ago.

But the times have changed we now consume more electricity, etc than we did a few decades ago(PC's, Air-con, etc).

So for me DST is not so much about energy savings but more about an increase in living standards/lifestyle, Energy savings are a bonus on top of it.

Just my view.
Naruki_Oni at 12:27 PM JST - 11th July

wilbur at 05:03 PM JST - 10th July

what's rocket surgery ? a cross between rocket science and brain surgery ? i think i found a candidate

He's staring at you from your mirror.

Methinks you are unfamiliar with Bushisms, and thus are a likely supporter of DST in all its glory. (BTW, might want to look up the word "sarcasm" as well.)

The original thought behind DST was that average people are morons and the only way to get them to implement adjusted working hours would be to pretend time itself had changed.

They were right.

If anything, they were far too generous.

DST is not only a failure at curbing working habits, it adds many more hours of useless work, not to mention completely unnecessary confusion in the global environment.

If some of you DST supporters could de-rectify your heads for a moment, you might even realize that DST doesn't work in many areas of the globe. Literally does not work. Good luck with that.
NagoyaGaijin at 12:29 PM JST - 11th July

I didn't realize that daylight was in danger and needed saving...
nisegaijin at 05:56 PM JST - 11th July

I think Japan is in wrong time zone period. Winter or summer they should move their time zone forward by 2 hours. Nobody needs friggin sunlight until 6 in the morning, and getting dark at 7pm is ridiculous. if it was light later, more energy would be saved and there would be less crimes on streets.
flammenwerfer at 11:09 PM JST - 11th July

DST is not only a failure at curbing working habits

screw working habits, take damn work out of the equation! how DST purely from the point of view of social habits; enjoying the evening light? Evening walks along the beach, touch rugby games, cricket practice, BBQ's, bike rides - I have many fond memories of DST in summer, life is not about working, who on their deathbed wish they had spent more time in the office? And if the standard working drone in Japan worked one hour longer each day as not to go home while it's light if DST were ever implemented here? then that is a truly pitiful thing.
Ah_so at 07:34 AM JST - 13th July

The cost of an hour's extra lighting for 120m people, both financial and environmental, should be clear. Japan has some pretty stiff CO2 targets to meet.

Changing the clocks might also change Japanese workers habits and allow them to leave before it gets dark (although there seem to be plenty going home in the daylight at this time of year).

In terms of it being against Japanese culture or whatever, what do you think would have happened in pre-modern Japan? Do you think that in mid-Summer, when it got bright at 4am, the Japanese lazed around in bed for another 3 hours, waiting for it to get really hot before starting in the fields or at their trade?

Of course not, they got up with the sun, probably been at work by 6am JST, and been in bed by about 8pm JST. In a world without clocks telling you constantly what you should be doing, the sun is the guide.

"Daylight saving" is way of getting back to the natural order (a little bit)and away from the artificial order of the timepiece. Nothing could be more "Japanese" than adjusting your life around the rising and setting of the sun.
Tokyopete at 06:03 PM JST - 13th July

Here we are, 5:45pm and its looking dark already - on the 13th July!!! I often wake up around dawn - 5am or earlier. I'd much sooner wake at 7am as it is just dawning and be able to go out for a meal and drink and bask in the daylight at 8 or 9 pm. It means when I'm home, the lights go on later for less hours and if the winter season also runs a reverse daylight savings time, then the electricity cost gets dramatically reduced. Today, with the high cost of electricity in Japan, ultra high cost of gasoline etc. and way of reducing our monthly expenses has to be a good idea. The UK and Europe have been doing it for yers as does the US, I believe. If only Japanese people would catch on to the real financial benefits, including shops and light based ads etc. there would be a mass scream for it. Tokyo decided to run a real purge on parking only to get upstaged up the ultra high cost of gasoline which has resulted in empty roads, fast times between areas WITHOUT speeding and it being easy to fnd a parking meter. All that is needed now is to get rid of the green capped parking mafia who are being reduced to riding around surburban areas to find cars on which to slap an Y18,000 spot fine. As all they do is rush around looking for vehicles to nail without even thinking about the necessity for deliveries to be made etc. all they are doing is driving up the cost of living as companies have to hire äsistants"to sit in the vehicle while the usual driver delivers, collects items from his customers. At least the wardens go gun shy if you lean out the window of your car and tell them the guy has just gone into a shop to deliver goods. They slink off with their tails between their legs, especially if you get out you cell phone camera and make sure they see you are going to take their photos. Up with daylight savings time and down with parking warden mafia.
Gyudon at 09:49 PM JST - 13th July

Having the sun come in the window at 4am during the summer sucks. More than DST in Japan, which would be welcome by me, the whole country needs to be moved into at least a 1 hour earlier time zone.
eresay at 11:59 PM JST - 13th July

Is this something that is really being discussed in Japan or is this just looking for topics to discuss on JT? I am completely with Gyudon as I find it really annoying it becoming light so early. Get with the times Japan! It must be one of the only industrialized countries that doesnt have it.
Naruki_Oni at 02:02 PM JST - 14th July

flammenwerfer at 11:09 PM JST - 11th July

screw working habits, take damn work out of the equation!

You try that, Einstein. The only reason DST is used is because of businesses. Farmers don't need it. Just try to reset a cow's internal clock.

The level of arrogant ignorance in this forum is breathtaking. I suppose I should explain that, since you people are truly ignorant: despite the easy availability of information via Google or Wikipedia, you yahoos don't know jack about the purpose of DST, the reasons it was implemented, or the reasons it is a crock of gobsh1te; and thus armed with that impenetrable ignorance, you arrogantly assert that it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

It's unbelievable how you idiots manage to tie your velcro shoes in the morning.

DST has nothing to do with you enjoying daylight. It has everything to do with complicating interstate and international communications. It flat out does not work at all in some areas of the globe. And it has been shown to fail even at the purported attempt to regulate business hours.

But you idiots will keep on voting for it because they marketed it so well for you.
Zen_Builder at 02:08 PM JST - 14th July

Article on DST origin and usage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylightsavingtime

Seems to go back to times when communications happened in days and week time-frames between countries.
Ah_so at 04:41 PM JST - 14th July

DST has nothing to do with you enjoying daylight. It has everything to do with complicating interstate and international communications. It flat out does not work at all in some areas of the globe. And it has been shown to fail even at the purported attempt to regulate business hours.

Naruki Oni, it has a lot to do with managing daylight. You clearly *know nothing *despite your zealous hatred of it. Look at countries on or hear the equator - they do not have a daylight saving system. It is countries closer to the extremes that benefit most from it.

Daylight saving is simply our way of making sure that we get up earlier in summer when it gets light earlier. The alternative is to change business hours from twice a year, but for some reason people generally prefer to change the clocks.

People are not going to change business hours. The only alternatives are to keep things as they are or employ summertime. Nearly all the world realises that a summertime system is better. Apart from a few tin-foil hatters.