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Los Angeles to Tokyo Time Converter

Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles while Los Angeles is on daylight saving time (from mid-March to early November), and 17 hours ahead the rest of the year. Japan doesn’t use daylight saving time, which is why the gap moves.

PDT · UTC−7
Mon, Oct 19
JST · UTC+9
Tue, Oct 20 next day

On Monday, October 19, Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles.

Heads-up: clocks in Los Angeles go back on Sunday, November 1. After that, Tokyo is 17 hours ahead of Los Angeles.

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Time zone rules checked October 2026. The converter runs on your device using its built-in time zone database, so it accounts for daylight saving time on any date you pick.

Los Angeles and Tokyo, hour by hour

Green rows are the hours when both cities are inside an ordinary 9-to-5 working day. Change the date in the converter and this table follows it.

Hour by hour for Monday, October 19, 2026 in Los Angeles
Los Angeles PDTTokyo JSTOffice hours (9 AM to 5 PM, local weekdays)
12:00 AM4:00 PMTokyo only
1:00 AM5:00 PM
2:00 AM6:00 PM
3:00 AM7:00 PM
4:00 AM8:00 PM
5:00 AM9:00 PM
6:00 AM10:00 PM
7:00 AM11:00 PM
8:00 AM12:00 AM next day
9:00 AM1:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
10:00 AM2:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
11:00 AM3:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
12:00 PM4:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
1:00 PM5:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
2:00 PM6:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
3:00 PM7:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
4:00 PM8:00 AM next dayLos Angeles only
5:00 PM9:00 AM next dayTokyo only
6:00 PM10:00 AM next dayTokyo only
7:00 PM11:00 AM next dayTokyo only
8:00 PM12:00 PM next dayTokyo only
9:00 PM1:00 PM next dayTokyo only
10:00 PM2:00 PM next dayTokyo only
11:00 PM3:00 PM next dayTokyo only

The best time for a call

A 9-to-5 day in Los Angeles and one in Tokyo don’t overlap at all, so somebody has to stretch. The fairest one-hour slot is usually 4:30 PM in Los Angeles, which is 8:30 AM the next day in Tokyo. It asks Los Angeles to stay about half an hour late and Tokyo to start about half an hour early.

When the gap is 17 hours, a short overlap opens up: 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM in Los Angeles.

Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles in the US summer and 17 in winter. It’s often easier to think of it as “tomorrow, and seven or eight hours earlier on the clock.”

That makes the late Los Angeles afternoon the natural meeting time, because it’s the next morning in Tokyo: 5 p.m. Pacific is 9 a.m. in Tokyo during the summer and 10 a.m. in winter. Friday afternoons in Los Angeles are Saturday mornings in Japan, so they don’t work.

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Why the time difference changes

Tokyo keeps the same time all year (UTC+9). Los Angeles doesn’t: its clocks go forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. Every time Los Angeles changes, the gap changes with it.

Tokyo compared with Los Angeles, Oct 19, 2026 to Oct 19, 2027
FromUntilTokyo is9:00 AM in Los Angeles is
TodayNov 1, 202616 hours ahead1:00 AM next day JST
Nov 1, 2026Mar 14, 202717 hours ahead2:00 AM next day JST
Mar 14, 2027—16 hours ahead1:00 AM next day JST

The two time zones

Los Angeles

Time zone
Pacific Time (PST / PDT)
UTC offset
UTC−8, or UTC−7 in summer
Daylight saving
Clocks go forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November.
Next change
Nov 1, 2026 (clocks go back)
IANA zone
America/Los_Angeles

Tokyo

Time zone
Japan Standard Time (JST)
UTC offset
UTC+9 all year
Daylight saving
Not observed
Next change
None — no daylight saving time
IANA zone
Asia/Tokyo

Common questions

What time is it in Tokyo when it’s 9 AM in Los Angeles?

1:00 AM the next day while Los Angeles is on daylight saving time, and 2:00 AM the next day the rest of the year. Pick a date in the converter above for the exact answer.

Is Tokyo always 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles?

No. Over the next twelve months it’s 16 hours most of the time, but it changes with the seasons: Nov 1 until Mar 14, 2027 (17 hours). That’s down to daylight saving time, explained above.

What’s a good time for a meeting between Los Angeles and Tokyo?

A 9-to-5 day in Los Angeles and one in Tokyo don’t overlap at all, so somebody has to stretch. The fairest one-hour slot is usually 4:30 PM in Los Angeles, which is 8:30 AM the next day in Tokyo. It asks Los Angeles to stay about half an hour late and Tokyo to start about half an hour early.

Is Tokyo a day ahead of Los Angeles?

For part of the day, yes. On a typical day, from about 8:00 AM in Los Angeles onwards it’s already the next day in Tokyo. The converter and hour-by-hour table flag this with a “next day” label.

Need more than two cities? The World Time Grid lines up to five locations side by side, so you can see everyone’s day at once.

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