JST Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Japan right now. Maybe you have a call with Tokyo, an order coming from a Japanese supplier, a livestream starting on Japan time, or someone to reach before their evening is done. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current Japan Standard Time and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock reads Japan Standard Time and, as the next section explains, it stays put all year rather than shuffling around with the seasons.

What JST actually is

JST stands for Japan Standard Time, and it sits nine hours ahead of UTC, written as UTC plus 9. The whole of Japan runs on this one time, from Okinawa in the south to Hokkaido in the north, on a single clock with no internal zones to worry about.

One handy thing to know is that South Korea keeps the same offset. Korea Standard Time is also UTC plus 9, so Tokyo and Seoul read exactly the same clock. North Korea sits on the same offset now as well. So when you have Japan time, you effectively have Korean time too.

Does JST change for daylight saving?

Japan does not use daylight saving time. The clocks never move, so JST holds at UTC plus 9 the whole year, summer and winter alike. Japan ran daylight saving for a few years just after the Second World War and dropped it, and it has not come back since.

That makes JST a steady reference to plan around. The only thing that moves is the other end of your call. Countries like the UK, Europe, and the US do change their clocks, so the gap between them and Japan shifts by an hour when they go on and off daylight saving. This page holds the fixed JST reference, and the table below shows how it lines up.

Converting JST to other time zones

JST sits nine hours ahead of UTC and stays there all year. The gaps to other fixed zones, like India, hold steady, while the rows for countries that run daylight saving shift by an hour between their winter and summer. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Japan.

A few quick examples

Let us run a few, so you can see how this works.

Say it is 12 noon in Tokyo, on Japan Standard Time. Seoul reads the same, since Korea keeps the same offset, so it is 12 noon there too. India is three and a half hours behind, making it 8:30 in the morning in Mumbai. Eastern Australia is an hour ahead, so 1 in the afternoon in Brisbane.

Now a call to London. In the British winter, London is nine hours behind Japan, so 12 noon in Tokyo is 3 in the morning in London, far too early. Even in the British summer it is only 4 in the morning. The cleaner window for a Japan and UK call is usually the Japanese evening, which is late morning in the UK.

And New York is harder still. Japan is a full day ahead in feel: when it is 12 noon in Tokyo, it is still the previous evening in New York, around 10 or 11 at night. For a Japan and US East Coast call, someone is giving up part of their evening or their early morning.

Where Japan Standard Time is used

Japan Standard Time covers all of Japan on a single clock, taking in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Sapporo, and everywhere else in the country. There are no separate zones within Japan.

South Korea, including Seoul, runs on the same UTC plus 9 offset under the name Korea Standard Time, and North Korea is on it too. None of them use daylight saving, so Japan and Korea stay locked to the same time all year.

Cities on Japan Standard Time

If you want the live clock for a particular city on this offset rather than the country as a whole, here are a couple to jump to:

• Tokyo time now
• Seoul time now (same offset, Korea Standard Time)

For the country-wide view, see Japan time now.

Questions people ask

What time is it in JST right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. JST sits at UTC plus 9 and does not change for daylight saving, so it reads the same steady Japan time all year round.

How many hours ahead of UTC is JST?

Nine hours ahead, written UTC plus 9. That offset stays the same all year, since Japan does not observe daylight saving.

Does Japan use daylight saving time?

No. Japan keeps a single fixed time year-round. It used daylight saving for a few years after the Second World War and has not used it since.

Is JST the same as Korea time?

Yes, for telling the time. Japan Standard Time and Korea Standard Time are both UTC plus 9, so Tokyo and Seoul read the same clock. They just go by different names.

What is JST in US Eastern time?

Japan is thirteen hours ahead of US Eastern in the American summer and fourteen hours ahead in winter. So 12 noon in Tokyo is around 10 or 11 the previous night in New York.

What is the IANA name for Japan Standard Time?

It is Asia/Tokyo in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It holds the fixed UTC plus 9 offset and is what drives the live clock on this page.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Asia/Tokyo identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan, which generates and maintains Japan Standard Time. https://www.nict.go.jp
3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference JST is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time