Chicago to Tokyo: time difference and meeting times
Everything you need to schedule between Chicago and Tokyo — the current offset, both cities' daylight saving dates, and the hour-by-hour overlap of their working days.
Partial overlap only. There is no hour when both cities are inside core working hours. Both sides are awake and available at 00:00–02:00 UTC, 11:00–12:00 UTC, 21:00–00:00 UTC, but at least one of them is in the early morning or the evening. That is the realistic window for this pair.
Hour by hour
| UTC | Chicago | Status | Tokyo | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 19:00 prev day | Evening | 09:00 | Working hours |
| 01:00 | 20:00 prev day | Evening | 10:00 | Working hours |
| 02:00 | 21:00 prev day | Late night | 11:00 | Working hours |
| 03:00 | 22:00 prev day | Late night | 12:00 | Working hours |
| 04:00 | 23:00 prev day | Late night | 13:00 | Working hours |
| 05:00 | 00:00 | Asleep | 14:00 | Working hours |
| 06:00 | 01:00 | Asleep | 15:00 | Working hours |
| 07:00 | 02:00 | Asleep | 16:00 | Working hours |
| 08:00 | 03:00 | Asleep | 17:00 | Working hours |
| 09:00 | 04:00 | Asleep | 18:00 | Evening |
| 10:00 | 05:00 | Asleep | 19:00 | Evening |
| 11:00 | 06:00 | Early morning | 20:00 | Evening |
| 12:00 | 07:00 | Early morning | 21:00 | Late night |
| 13:00 | 08:00 | Early morning | 22:00 | Late night |
| 14:00 | 09:00 | Working hours | 23:00 | Late night |
| 15:00 | 10:00 | Working hours | 00:00 next day | Asleep |
| 16:00 | 11:00 | Working hours | 01:00 next day | Asleep |
| 17:00 | 12:00 | Working hours | 02:00 next day | Asleep |
| 18:00 | 13:00 | Working hours | 03:00 next day | Asleep |
| 19:00 | 14:00 | Working hours | 04:00 next day | Asleep |
| 20:00 | 15:00 | Working hours | 05:00 next day | Asleep |
| 21:00 | 16:00 | Working hours | 06:00 next day | Early morning |
| 22:00 | 17:00 | Working hours | 07:00 next day | Early morning |
| 23:00 | 18:00 | Evening | 08:00 next day | Early morning |
Green rows are hours when both cities are inside core working hours (09:00–17:59 local). Amber rows are hours when both are awake but at least one is in the early morning or evening. Times shown are for 27 August 2026; the pattern shifts when either city changes its clocks.
Quick conversions
| When it is… | …it is |
|---|---|
| 09:00 in Chicago | 23:00 in Tokyo |
| 12:00 in Chicago | 02:00 next day in Tokyo |
| 15:00 in Chicago | 05:00 next day in Tokyo |
| 17:00 in Chicago | 07:00 next day in Tokyo |
Daylight saving
Chicago next moves its clocks back on 1 November 2026, to UTC−6. Tokyo does not observe daylight saving — this offset is fixed all year.
Only one side changes its clocks
Chicago observes daylight saving and Tokyo does not. The difference between these two cities is therefore not constant — it changes twice a year, entirely because of the Chicago side. A recurring meeting fixed to local time in Tokyo will appear to move by an hour in Chicago, and vice versa.
These cities are usually on different calendar days
The gap here is large enough that for much of the day the two cities are not merely at different times but on different dates. When you agree a meeting, confirm the date in both cities explicitly — "Tuesday at 9" means two different moments depending on whose Tuesday you mean.
Scheduling across this corridor
East Asia and North America sit on opposite sides of the working day, and for most of these pairs the calendar date differs as well. A meeting that is late afternoon in the US lands the following morning in Tokyo or Seoul, which is usually the least painful arrangement: the Asian side takes it at the start of their day rather than the end of yours. Because Japan, Korea and China do not observe daylight saving, the entire seasonal shift comes from the North American side, so a slot fixed in local US time will drift by an hour twice a year while the Asian local time stays put.
About Chicago
Chicago anchors US Central Time, an hour behind the East Coast and the zone covering most of the American interior. For international scheduling it behaves like a slightly softer version of New York — an hour further from Europe, an hour closer to Asia. It observes the standard US daylight saving dates.
About Tokyo
Tokyo holds a fixed offset year-round, nine hours ahead of UTC. Japan experimented with daylight saving under the postwar occupation and abandoned it in 1952, and has not observed it since, so the offset is genuinely permanent. Japanese business scheduling tends to be precise about start times, and the working day runs long.
Add more cities
This page covers two cities. If your team spans three or more, open the interactive grid — it shows every city's working hours side by side and highlights the columns where everyone overlaps.
◎ Open Chicago and Tokyo in the grid
Related time differences
Intl API and were last generated on 27 August 2026. See how we calculate these figures.