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Daylight savings coming to Japan? And Korea?

September 28, 2007
By Ken Worsley


Back in August, it was announced that Japan and Korea would work together in order to explore options for putting in place a daylight savings system (which is called “Summer Time” in Japan). Obviously, Japan and Korea have had trouble working together in the past, but could this be an issue they manage to get something accomplished on?

It might seem like an easy project: daylight savings would save energy, and with Japan falling short of its Kyoto Protocol goals, progress needs to be made. With the sun rising just past 4am in Tokyo during the summer, daylight savings seems like a no-brainer.

Now, the Japanese government is considering the idea, with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry leading the push.

Opposition to daylight savings time, however, remains. It has been tried before in Korea, in 1986 and 1988. In Japan, Hokkaido has experimented with a voluntary daylight savings time. At the same time, unions oppose the idea on the grounds that it will lead to more unpaid overtime, since workers will feel as though they will have to work an hour later.

I’ve heard the same for farmers as well. I’ve also heard that Japan’s rice will not know when to grow if the clocks change. Hopefully Japan and Korea can get the ball rolling on this obvious step towards reduction of energy consumption.

Filed Under Business, Japan 

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Comments

5 Responses to “Daylight savings coming to Japan? And Korea?”

  1. Chris on September 28th, 2007 4:59 am

    I really don’t give a damn about the energy savings… I’m tired of the sunrise before 4am!!! I have long been stunned at the time that Japan keeps…

    I mean they could switch to 10GMT (same as Aust Eastern Time) and they would be better off all year.

  2. Ken Y-N on September 28th, 2007 8:21 am

    Don’t know why the unions are complaining - well, I do know as mine complains about working hours yet never actually does anything about them! Latest one was a survey that showed 35% of employees thought 7-8 hour working day was ideal (25% voted for 8-9) yet 40% actually work 9-10 hours per day and with more working over 10 hours than less than 9, therefore very few people actually go home before sundown even during mid-summer.

    However, there was nothing more than a ワークライフバランス考えましょう message from them, nothing about evil bosses forcing people to work.

  3. Jeremy on September 28th, 2007 8:52 am

    Chris,

    I couldn’t agree with you more! It will also reduce the number
    of people walking their dogs at 5 a.m. and waking the rest of
    the world up! However, you know Japan, this taskforce will
    “study” the effects for 10 years then it will start by the year 2030!

  4. matt on September 28th, 2007 9:23 am

    I agree with Chris. Why not just change Time Zones? Daylight savings is a pain in the ass

  5. Henry on October 1st, 2007 7:33 pm

    Japan needs this. Winter time works well - light at about 7 - 7:30, getting dark about 5.

    Summer, light at 4, dark by 7:30!!? It is crazy and a terrific waste of time and daylight.

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