Time difference between Tokyo and San Francisco
San Francisco is currently 16 hours behind Tokyo. Their working days do not overlap at all, so one side has to step outside office hours. The table below shows the hours side by side.
National conventions are the default and the public figure. Change them here for your own answer — the chart, the window and the calendar file all follow.
09:00 Tokyo At work = 17:00 San Francisco Awake
Tap any hour to read it in both cities.
The difference changes twice a year
Tokyo and San Francisco do not change their clocks on the same dates, so a standing meeting moves by an hour in these weeks.
- 1 November – 13 March −17 h
- usually −16 h
Days when one side is not at work
A public holiday is not a time-zone fact, so no converter shows it — but it is the same question.
- 7 September — Labor Day San Francisco off
- 21 September — 敬老の日 Tokyo off
- 22 September — 国民の休日 Tokyo off
- 23 September — 秋分の日 Tokyo off
- 3 November — 文化の日 Tokyo off
- 11 November — Veterans Day San Francisco off
Hour by hour
| Tokyo | San Francisco | |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 08:00 | |
| 01:00 | 09:00 | |
| 02:00 | 10:00 | |
| 03:00 | 11:00 | |
| 04:00 | 12:00 | |
| 05:00 | 13:00 | |
| 06:00 | 14:00 | |
| 07:00 | 15:00 | |
| 08:00 | 16:00 | |
| 09:00 | 17:00 | |
| 10:00 | 18:00 | |
| 11:00 | 19:00 | |
| 12:00 | 20:00 | |
| 13:00 | 21:00 | |
| 14:00 | 22:00 | |
| 15:00 | 23:00 | |
| 16:00 | 00:00 | |
| 17:00 | 01:00 | |
| 18:00 | 02:00 | |
| 19:00 | 03:00 | |
| 20:00 | 04:00 | |
| 21:00 | 05:00 | |
| 22:00 | 06:00 | |
| 23:00 | 07:00 |
The difference adjusts automatically for daylight saving in both Tokyo and San Francisco.
The working week
- Tokyo
- 09:00 to 18:00, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
- Nine to six is the conventional office day, and overtime is common on top of it.
- San Francisco
- 09:00 to 17:00, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Sources and last check
Times, offsets and sun positions on this page are computed live from the IANA timezone database and the NOAA solar algorithm, so they do not depend on the review dates below.
- Working hours and weekend days for 55 countries
- Source: Published national labour conventions and government working-hours guidance. Last checked, reviewed every 12 months.
Not covered:A national convention, not any given employer. Countries not listed fall back to a nine-to-five, Monday to Friday default, and pages say so rather than implying we checked.
FAQ
How many hours between Tokyo and San Francisco?
San Francisco is 16 hours behind Tokyo (-16 hours).
When is the best time for a meeting?
There is no time that suits both: Tokyo works 09:00–18:00 and San Francisco works 09:00–17:00 locally, and those never coincide. Someone has to take the call outside office hours.