Apparently the US instituted daylight savings times in Japan after the war, a practice that became known as sanma taimu (summer time). The Japanese wasted no time in abandoning daylight savings time upon regaining sovereignty.
I long considered the absence of daylight savings time and resulting summer sunrise at 4am and darkness by '7pm an abomination - sweltering morning commutes and no sun light after work for cycling, trail running or barbecues.
However this past week with the afternoon sun making outdoor workouts unbearable, I am eager to see the sun set as soon as possible. I was ready to run by 5pm yesterday, but waited another 90 minutes for dusk and relief from the glaring heat. I still felt weak and light-headed doing 18k in the middle of the Tokyo urban heat island. But it is mercifully cooler in the dark and the illumination of the Tokyo skyline around the Palace is lovely, and I can understand why the Japanese jettisoned "summer time" and expedited the day.
2 comments:
hm, i did not think about it that way, yet. however, `nice' morning runs get difficult, right?
but, indeed, dealing with the heat seems to be a major problem, so, getting rid of the daylight saving time might not be a patriotic act only ;-)
Also the bar owners in Ginza felt longer daylight was bad for business and lobbied to get rid of daylight savings time.
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