Time difference between New York and Tokyo

The gap is not the same all year

Every converter gives one number for this pair. That number is right for most of the year and wrong for part of it, because New York goes forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November and Tokyo does not change its clocks.

Tokyo stays put all year while New York moves, so a meeting fixed in Tokyo's calendar shifts by an hour twice a year at New York's end.

About New York and Tokyo

New York is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 from March to November, and it changes clocks on different weekends from Europe — a fortnight in March and a week in autumn when the transatlantic gap is an hour off what everyone expects.

Japan is UTC+9 with no daylight saving anywhere, and has not had it since the occupation ended in 1952. The whole country runs one zone and the business day starts early, so the useful overlap with Europe is Japan's late afternoon.

What 13 hours actually costs you

There is no shared working hour at all. Nine to five in New York is 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM in Tokyo. Somebody has to be outside their working day, and the only question is who — so the useful thing is to decide that once rather than rediscover it every time.

The least painful slot is 5:00 PM in New York, which is 6:00 AM in Tokyo. That is 3 hours outside somebody's working day and it is the smallest that gap gets — every other hour of the clock costs more.

At 13 hours the two are far enough apart that the date stops matching. Midday in New York is 1:00 AM the next day in Tokyo. "Tomorrow morning" means different things to the two of you, and a deadline given without a date attached will be missed by one side or the other.

When they can both be at their desks

Nine-to-five in New York and nine-to-five in Tokyo do not overlap at all. With 13 hours between them, one side is always outside working hours, and the practical question is which side takes the early start or the late finish rather than when to meet.

New York

Tokyo

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How far apart New York and Tokyo are

The shortest path over the Earth's surface between the two is 10,852 km (6,743 miles). Flown along that line, an airliner at cruising speed takes roughly 13 hours 35 minutes in the air — actual routings add to it, and whether a nonstop service exists depends on the airlines rather than the distance.

Over that distance you cross 13 hours of clock, which is where jet lag comes from: the body shifts by about an hour a day, so 13 hours takes most people 13 days or so to absorb. Flying east to Tokyo is the harder direction — you lose the hours and have to fall asleep earlier than your body wants.

New York to Tokyo, hour by hour

On the usual gap of 13 hours.

Frequently asked questions