Daylight saving time in Japan

From 1948-51, Japan observed DST between May and September every year under an initiative of the U.S.-led occupation army. The unpopularity of DST, for which people complained about sleep disruption and longer daytime labor (some workers had to work from early morning till dusk) caused Japan to abandon DST in 1952, shortly after its sovereignty was restored upon the coming into effect of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Since then, DST has never been officially implemented nationwide in Japan.^[1]

Starting in the late 1990s, a movement to reinstate DST in Japan gained some popularity, aiming at saving energy and increasing recreational time. The Hokkaido region is particularly in favor of this movement because daylight starts as early as 03:30 (in standard time) there in summer due to its high latitude and its location near the eastern edge of the time zone. In the early 2000s, a few local governments and commerce departments promoted unmandated hour-earlier work schedule experiments during the summer without officially resetting clocks.

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy is expected to propose that the Japanese government begin studying DST in an attempt to help combat global warming. The former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe made a significant effort to introduce daylight saving time, but was ultimately unsuccessful.^[2] However, it is not clear that DST would conserve energy in Japan. A 2007 simulation estimated that introducing DST to Japan would increase energy use in Osaka residences by 0.13%, with a 0.02% saving due to lighting more than outweighed by a 0.15% increase due to cooling costs; the simulation did not examine non-residential buildings.^[3]

See also

• Time in Japan

References

1. ^ Hongo, Jun, "Daylight saving: Is it finally time to convert?", Japan Times, 28 June 2011, p. 3.
2. ^ "Panel to call for daylight saving time". Yomiuri Shimbun. 2007-06-02. Archived from the original on June 6, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070606121904/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070602TDY01005.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-02. 
3. ^ Yoshiyuki Shimoda; Takahiro Asahia; Ayako Taniguchia; Minoru Mizuno (2007). "Evaluation of city-scale impact of residential energy conservation measures using the detailed end-use simulation model". Energy 32 (9): 1617–1633. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2007.01.007.