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Time gap

Time differences

Time difference between London and Tokyo

No office hour works for both on a typical weekday — the bars below show the closest.

 

 

 

  • Everyone at work
  • Work hours
  • Awake
  • Night
  • Weekend

Tap any column to see that moment in every city.

Different hours for each city
  • 8–9 hoursTokyo ahead of London
  • UTC / UTC+1London, January / July
  • UTC+9Tokyo, January and July
  • 0 hoursshared 9-to-5 time

How the gap moves through the year

Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of London for about 7 months of the year.

Tokyo is 9 hours ahead of London for about 5 months of the year.

From the last Sunday in March (when London moves forward), Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of London.

From the last Sunday in October (when London falls back), Tokyo is 9 hours ahead of London.

London moves its clocks forward one hour on the last Sunday in March at 1:00 am local time and back on the last Sunday in October at 2:00 am, switching between Greenwich Mean Time (UTC) and British Summer Time (UTC+1).

Tokyo does not change its clocks: it stays on UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time) all year.

Next clock change for this pair, as of when this page was built (2026-10-20): London falls back on Sun 25 October 2026.

Everything on this page also holds if you swap London for Birmingham, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester or Lisbon, or Tokyo for Seoul, Busan, Pyongyang, Osaka or Dili — those cities follow exactly the same clock all year.

Working hours that overlap

In January, two 9-to-5 days never meet — not a single quarter-hour is inside working hours in both cities.

July is no different.

Stretching both days to 8:00–18:00 opens 1 hour (8:00 am–9:00 am in London). Beyond that, one side has to take an early-morning or evening call.

Across the week

At 9:00 on a Monday morning in London, it is 6:00 pm on Monday in Tokyo.

2 hours of a London working week (Monday to Friday, 9 to 5) fall on the weekend in Tokyo, so part of Monday or Friday is lost for meetings.

Daylight, distance and night calls

London and Tokyo are about 9,560 km (5,940 miles) apart and 140° of longitude apart, which by the sun alone would be 9 hours 15 minutes.

London's winter clock sits within 2 minutes of the sun, and Tokyo's runs 19 minutes behind the sun.

In mid-January the sun is up in London from about 7:59 am to 4:19 pm, and the sun is up in Tokyo from about 6:50 am to 4:50 pm; there is no moment when both are in daylight.

In mid-July the sun is up in London from about 5:00 am to 9:12 pm, and the sun is up in Tokyo from about 4:36 am to 6:58 pm; both cities are in daylight at the same time for about 6 hours 30 minutes.

In January, 4 hours of a London office day fall in Tokyo's night (10 pm to 6 am), and 6 hours of a Tokyo office day fall in London's night.

In July, 3 hours of a London office day fall in Tokyo's night (10 pm to 6 am), and 5 hours of a Tokyo office day fall in London's night.

Two usual compromises in January: an early call at 7:00 am in London is 4:00 pm in Tokyo; a late call at 6:00 pm in London is 3:00 am the next day there.

Hour-by-hour table and common mistakes — 2 more sections
Each hour in London and the same moment in Tokyo, on a Wednesday in January and in July. Shaded: inside 9-to-5 in both.
LondonTokyo, JanuaryTokyo, July
12:00 am9:00 am8:00 am
1:00 am10:00 am9:00 am
2:00 am11:00 am10:00 am
3:00 am12:00 pm11:00 am
4:00 am1:00 pm12:00 pm
5:00 am2:00 pm1:00 pm
6:00 am3:00 pm2:00 pm
7:00 am4:00 pm3:00 pm
8:00 am5:00 pm4:00 pm
9:00 am6:00 pm5:00 pm
10:00 am7:00 pm6:00 pm
11:00 am8:00 pm7:00 pm
12:00 pm9:00 pm8:00 pm
1:00 pm10:00 pm9:00 pm
2:00 pm11:00 pm10:00 pm
3:00 pm12:00 am (+1 day)11:00 pm
4:00 pm1:00 am (+1 day)12:00 am (+1 day)
5:00 pm2:00 am (+1 day)1:00 am (+1 day)
6:00 pm3:00 am (+1 day)2:00 am (+1 day)
7:00 pm4:00 am (+1 day)3:00 am (+1 day)
8:00 pm5:00 am (+1 day)4:00 am (+1 day)
9:00 pm6:00 am (+1 day)5:00 am (+1 day)
10:00 pm7:00 am (+1 day)6:00 am (+1 day)
11:00 pm8:00 am (+1 day)7:00 am (+1 day)

Common mistakes with London and Tokyo

  • Forgetting that the gap changes even though Tokyo never touches its clocks: London does, so a meeting fixed in Tokyo time moves by an hour for people in London.
  • Getting the date wrong. With a gap this large, an afternoon call in one city is the next morning — or the previous evening — in the other. Write the date for both cities in the invite.
  • Writing “GMT” all year for London. In summer the zone is British Summer Time; calendar apps handle it, but a typed time in an email can be read the wrong way.

Questions

Is Tokyo ahead of London?
Tokyo is 9 hours ahead of London in January and 8 hours ahead of London in July.
What is a good time for a meeting between London and Tokyo?
There is no hour that is inside a 9-to-5 day in both cities. The least painful option is usually early morning in one and early evening in the other; drag the slider above to see the trade-off on your date.
Does the time difference between London and Tokyo change?
Yes. Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of London for about 7 months of the year. Tokyo is 9 hours ahead of London for about 5 months of the year.

Related time differences

London time zone · Tokyo time zone · Plan with more cities

City names, coordinates and time zone assignments: GeoNames, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (selection and renaming of some cities by this site). Clock times are computed in your browser from the IANA time zone database. Sources and limits.