Summertime in Japan
haggisthesecond suggested I should write a post about summertime in Japan. Hopefully she will see this on her return from Athens.
Earlier this week I was reading my Daily Yomiuri and saw an article entitled "Hokkaido firms try out daylight saving time". Having tried earlier in the year to explain to some of my colleagues the concept of 'summertime' and been met with bafflement at how this concept would work in practice, I decided to read on.
Apparently summertime, as it is known in Japan, has a less than simple history. The Americans imposed daylight savings time on the Japanese in 1948, but it proved so unpopular that it only lasted until 1952. [The article failed to explain why it proved so unpopular - but made clear that the imposition was bitterly opposed.]
Since then the topic has been debated on a regular basis, most recently in 1998 as Japan debated ways to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol at which time it was suggested that summertime should be introduced by 2008. Nonetheless, based on my experience with my colleagues they have some education to do - a comment comment being "Doesn't summertime just mean you work longer hours, if you have to get up an hour earlier?" Indeed, one of the major reasons summertime has not been introduced yet, is that the Japanese were concerned that it would just lead to an extension of already over-long working hours.
The article quoted an official from the Japanese Environment Ministry as saying, "Part of the problem is that it's hard to visualize what actually happens during daylight-saving". Now, if the man in charge of Japan's efforts to combat global warming has this problem, maybe I should not be surprised that my colleagues were baffled.
Finally, I have to comment on the comment of one of the participants in this experiment by 220 firms in Sapporo. "The hours leading up to lunchtime seemed forever." This only makes sense once you understand that just about everyone goes to lunch at 1200 in Japan, having arrived in the office at about 0930 (or maybe, 1000) - so an extra hour before lunch is a significant increase... [Hence the expat strategy of getting into the office early, and heading to lunch at 1150, thereby beating all of the queues!!]
As promised, a post about summertime in Japan...!
[Isabel - fear not, I will write something about the topic you asked about - but I couldn't resist being deliberately obtuse. :-)]
Well, my flight back to the UK is about to start boarding, so I had better sign off for now. Hoping for some sleep on the flight, as I was up at 0400 to do my packing, having enjoyed last night's pub quiz until midnight.
Earlier this week I was reading my Daily Yomiuri and saw an article entitled "Hokkaido firms try out daylight saving time". Having tried earlier in the year to explain to some of my colleagues the concept of 'summertime' and been met with bafflement at how this concept would work in practice, I decided to read on.
Apparently summertime, as it is known in Japan, has a less than simple history. The Americans imposed daylight savings time on the Japanese in 1948, but it proved so unpopular that it only lasted until 1952. [The article failed to explain why it proved so unpopular - but made clear that the imposition was bitterly opposed.]
Since then the topic has been debated on a regular basis, most recently in 1998 as Japan debated ways to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol at which time it was suggested that summertime should be introduced by 2008. Nonetheless, based on my experience with my colleagues they have some education to do - a comment comment being "Doesn't summertime just mean you work longer hours, if you have to get up an hour earlier?" Indeed, one of the major reasons summertime has not been introduced yet, is that the Japanese were concerned that it would just lead to an extension of already over-long working hours.
The article quoted an official from the Japanese Environment Ministry as saying, "Part of the problem is that it's hard to visualize what actually happens during daylight-saving". Now, if the man in charge of Japan's efforts to combat global warming has this problem, maybe I should not be surprised that my colleagues were baffled.
Finally, I have to comment on the comment of one of the participants in this experiment by 220 firms in Sapporo. "The hours leading up to lunchtime seemed forever." This only makes sense once you understand that just about everyone goes to lunch at 1200 in Japan, having arrived in the office at about 0930 (or maybe, 1000) - so an extra hour before lunch is a significant increase... [Hence the expat strategy of getting into the office early, and heading to lunch at 1150, thereby beating all of the queues!!]
As promised, a post about summertime in Japan...!
[Isabel - fear not, I will write something about the topic you asked about - but I couldn't resist being deliberately obtuse. :-)]
Well, my flight back to the UK is about to start boarding, so I had better sign off for now. Hoping for some sleep on the flight, as I was up at 0400 to do my packing, having enjoyed last night's pub quiz until midnight.