JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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In an OECD survey of 36 nations on people's perceptions of their living conditions, Japan ranked 21st in terms of quality of life; Australia, Norway and the U.S. were the top 3. What do you think of that?
( 12 )
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The Fukuoka mayor is banning public servants from drinking alcohol for a month; the Osaka mayor has declared war on tattoos on civil servants. What do you think of all this?
( 21 )
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Why do you think Facebook's stock failed to live up to the hype in its trading debut?
( 13 )
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Which sport, when played well, do you think is the most exciting to watch?
( 62 )
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What's the difference between an average burger and a great one?
( 12 )
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- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
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- National Relief/Substitute Teacher - summer start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥275,000 ~ ¥300,000 / Month
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- 営業パーソン
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tochigi
- Salary: ¥240,000 ~ ¥350,000 / Month Negotiable
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59 Comments
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DeepAir65
Having to make phone calls to Europe for work I like that Japan does not have daylight savings as in the summer my meetings can be one hour earlier.
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papasmurfinjapan
Hmm, lets see.
Bright, sunny and 32 degrees at 5am
or
Bright, sunny and 32 degrees at 6am
I'll take the latter.
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Zen_Builder
I like DST, grew up with it.
Yeah the sun can come up early but who will benefit from it?
OTOH, loved the extra hour of sunlight at night in europe, more people were out and about, like shopping, hanging out, etc. Also the extra hour allowed us to hit the local river/danube-channel after hours for a bit of a swim, etc.
Not sure about the energy savings now as we rely too much on computers, etc who are a major drain on the grid.
Wish they had it in Japan, I got a lovely roof-terrace and would love to have supper with the family on it while watching the sun set, etc.
I am all for it not so much for energy savings but because I think it will benefit family, etc interactions.
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serindipity
Yep, we should have it. The advantages are far greater than the disadvantages. The environmental impact is enough of a reason, but also adding and extra hour a 'fun time' to Japanese people's lives can't be a bad thing either.
Southern Australia has had it for 20 years. Northern Australia (QLD) objected to it because the dairy farmer's schedule was put out and the cows were coming home at dinner time. TRUE!
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nimbus
Don't have it and don't care for it.
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cleo
All in favour of it. I don't need the sun high in the sky when I'm in bed.
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Triple888
To be honest I see no difference. DST should be practiced only when more daylight is needed.
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GW
desprately needed in this country but most natives just arent able to comprehend the benefits & think it will wreck havoc on them ha ha.
Me I just do my own DST, wake up usually start my working day at home, head to the office or whereever & when I am done I go home, I often have a couples of daylight to work in my garden, get the BBQ ready.
Your average Tanaka just dont know/understand/comprehend what they are missing
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RascalFromKochi
And think of what it will do to the cabaret/bar industry when dads might decide to go home to play with the kids? That was what happened in Korea when they tried it, and that was one of the primary reasons that it was promptly canceled. Just think! Men might choose family life over alcohol and bar girls!!! Why the culture would go to hell in a handcart if daylight savings time was implemented!
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Dualta
As it has been said, an hour of extra darkness in the morning and an hour of extra sunlight in the evening makes for more comfortable living for sure. On a very specific note, I jog in the evenings and I'm fed up doing it in darkness at 8pm. At home in Europe that extra hour's sunlight at night made summer that little bit more special.
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Statistician
Great idea - I really miss sunny evenings working in the garden.
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Coligny
In Paris sun seems to goes down between 10 and 11 at night in summer. Make for great evenings. Or if you are on the seaside, you can really enjoy the sunset during a late dinner. And in a country where people work until late at night it's borderline criminal not to have DST... But even after that Tanaka still lecture you about how ecology minded japan is...
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RepublicofTexas
I think it would be a pretty good idea. Maybe a hard transition, but nonetheless good in the long run. Especially if as rascal says it would help family interaction. It might even have a small positive impact on Japan's birthrate. I do find it annoying that it gets dark so quickly here. I wonder if being lighter out for longer might be safer too.
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ppayne
Bring it on, please. It's silly that I go to bed at 3:30 or 4 am and get to see the sun.
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Zen_Builder
Actually according to my wife Japan tried DST once but it was rejected as everyone ended up working an extra hour.
Might have been the wrong timing and I think it could work now with the new focus on work/life balance.
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geronimo2006
Face it! Some idiot put Japan is in the wrong time zone.
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Sarge
For me, every six months I screw up the time by one hour - it's either one hour earlier or later than I think - when I call someone in the States. I can never keep it straight. Pain in the neck!
Otherwise, yeah, why not? My friends and family in the States enjoy daylight til after 8pm in the summer thanks to DST.
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Hughgarse
two words. do it! I hate how the sun comes up here in Japan at 4bloodyAM
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Naruki_Oni
Anyone who likes Daylight Saving Time is an idiot.
Those countries that use it need to get their butts kicked, continuously, until they stop.
If you want to get up earlier or later, hey, get up earlier or later. It's not rocket surgery, people.
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Zen_Builder
Naruki Oni.
Yeah, sure companies will accept workers coming in an hour early/late.
Get real.
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GW
sarge
SPRING forward, FALL back, its easy har!
Zen B
See my earlier comment, too many J-folks just dont know how to enjoy life so they just end up staying at the office, these people waste their lives & then when the retire they finally figure out their companies never gave a rats _____ about them & their life is at its end, forget that crap!
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Zen_Builder
GW.
Did you see my comment about the previous DST attempt in Japan?
But I think times have changed at least that is what I get from other parents at my sons primary school.
Things are changing, yes slowly and quietly but the change is there.
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randomenigma
If people have an issue with it not being bright at the end of the work day, then they should start and end work one hour earlier instead of changing time for all the people who don't give a damn.
If you ask me, daylight savings is the wrong way around. We need more light at the end of the day in winter, not in summer.
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THunter
I discussed DST with my neighbours a few weeks ago. None of them had any real comprehension of how summer time would work, with one even saying, "You've gotta be kidding. No way am I giving up an hour's sleep every night." She honestly thought her nights would be an hour shorter. So let's make things easier. Shift the nation's time zone one hour west in summer AND winter. Might piss a few farmers off in Hokkaido, but what the hey. How many of them are there? We could take 'em.
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flammenwerfer
it doesn't work that way now does it? I for one cant change the time I go to work or finish work, I cant change everyone else's schedule can I? All my friends still have to work in their jobs, which start at the same time, my children go to school at the same time... there truly are some clueless things posted on this website
Japan is arguably in the wrong time zone to start with compounded with the lack of daylight savings means you get idiotic things like Sunrise and sunset today in Sapporo. Sunrise at 4:05 a.m.
Sunset at 7:15 p.m.
hey lets check Boston which is a the same latitude as Sapporo.
Sunrise at 5:17 a.m.
Sunset at 8:22 p.m.
well well thats a better scenario.
How about Florence, again about the same lat. Sunrise at 5:43 a.m.
Sunset at 8:57 p.m.
It doesn't take Spock to see the logic of DST.
It is one of the frustrating things about living in this country - the lack of DST and also the lack of awareness among the population about it benefits. How about the energy savings from using lights one hour less each day in your house? the safety issue of children being able get home in the safety of daylight? I wish I could have one more hour to play with my sons at the park in summer evenings after work..
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smartacus
Fact: Japanese people won't leave the office while it is still light. But more importantly, Japanese cities only really come alive and become attractive to look at when it becomes dark and that's how workers like to see it when they leave the office or workplace.
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Sarge
GW - "SPRING foward, FALL back, it's easy"
So, it sounds like I should call one hour later in the spring and one hour earlier in the fall. But in the spring, one day before DST if it's midnight in Tokyo it's 11am in New York. So the next day, DST, they set their damn clocks foward one hour, so if I want to call someone in New York at 11am New York time, I have to call at 11pm, one hour EARLIER! Oh, nooooo!
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helloklitty
Buy an i-Mac and use their widgets to make life easier. I can tell you what time it is anywhere in five seconds.
My first Japanese girlfriend, back in college, woke up right at 2:00 a.m. to set the clock back.
I know companies would abuse this by saying, "Hey, it's still light out, keep working."
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tokyotom
all those japanese salary men coming to work at 9-930 after the sun has been up for 5 HOURS, going home at midnight, seems like a waste of power on all those lightbulbs, just because Japanese cows can't handle a change?
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PrinceskaNo1
Japan is a country which is keen on saving the environment only in words. Introduce the summer time, open your eyes, Japan.
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tokyotom
while I am at it, why can't we tee-off (golf) early than 9am in the summer either? not efficient!
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Patrick Smash
Not having summertime is plain silly. All Japanese I talk to are in favour of it. Mind you I only ever talk to women. Who cares what the blokes think.
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wilbur
It's not rocket surgery, people.
what's rocket surgery ? a cross between rocket science and brain surgery ? i think i found a candidate
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Zen_Builder
helloklitty.
As can my Windows PC using world-time clock and the correct settings. Heck even the ol wrist-watch I bought 9yrs ago updates to DST settings automatically.
Poor old wrist-watch, tracks 4 time-zones(plus DST), don't need battery(charges from light), safe up to a depth of 30 metres, 24hr display even though she is analog. Good old watch only goes wrong by 1 second every 1.000.000years(slaved to an atomic clock and updates daily).
Just kidding. Not about my watch though, but today there is no excuse for not knowing DST times in other countries.
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majimeaussie
But do the US and Europe start and finish daylight savings at the same time. Japan will obviously do their own thing if they decide to implement daylight savings so the different start and finish times will screw everyone. This doesn't even take into account daylight savings in the Southern hemisphere.
Australia is fun in Winter there are 3 time zones and in Summer 5. Until they pulled their fingers out the start and finish time for daylight saving was also different in every state.
Even with all this silliness I am still in favour of it.
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sabinuki
Yeah daylight saving would be useful if there was some actual sunlight.
Four hours of sunlight this week in Tokyo (from Monday to some unspecified time taken today). That's some nice grey to go with the grey buildings and grey personalities. And let's not forget the greying of Japanese society in general as well. Ugghh.
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badge123
Whats my view on daylight's savings time? It's a pain in the butt to reset all my clocks, watches, VCR/DVD player back/forward one hour, If I could remember which way to turn the clock.
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stanoue
I can't think of much bad to say about Daylight savings - means I can play sport later in the weekends, more BBQs, less cold washing when you get home a bit late to bring it in. When I was younger (think: 18 and just able to go to the pubs) I didn't like the first day of daylight savings, because all the pubs in my city closed at 3am and so 2 o clock came around and ...you lost an hour of fun! But the opposite with an extra hours sleep to move them back was always great. The only problem I can think of is when the weather packs up and winter comes a bit early while DST is still on - you end up waking in the dark which isnt so good.
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NICOLE77
i think DST is great ;) People who 'cant' leave the office because its light out need to find a new job ( with or without DST )...
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Ivespoken
well... American people can't tell the difference, LOL We just forget to set our clocks...
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BIJ
Absolutely necessary. Japan should join the rest of the world. It is light here at 4 am at the moment...so much wasted daylight.
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Patto
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.
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RepublicofTexas
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.
>
However daylight saving time would definitely help.
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jinjapan
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.
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Zen_Builder
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.
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Naruki_Oni
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.
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NagoyaGaijin
I didn't realize that daylight was in danger and needed saving...
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nisegaijin
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.
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flammenwerfer
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.
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Ah_so
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.
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Tokyopete
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.
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Gyudon
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.
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eresay
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.
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Naruki_Oni
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.
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Zen_Builder
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.
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Ah_so
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.
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