Sydney to Tokyo: time difference and meeting times
Everything you need to schedule between Sydney and Tokyo — the current offset, both cities' daylight saving dates, and the hour-by-hour overlap of their working days.
8 hours of full overlap. Both cities are inside normal working hours (09:00–17:59 local) at 00:00–08:00 UTC. Any hour in that range works for both sides without anyone starting early or finishing late.
Hour by hour
| UTC | Sydney | Status | Tokyo | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 10:00 | Working hours | 09:00 | Working hours |
| 01:00 | 11:00 | Working hours | 10:00 | Working hours |
| 02:00 | 12:00 | Working hours | 11:00 | Working hours |
| 03:00 | 13:00 | Working hours | 12:00 | Working hours |
| 04:00 | 14:00 | Working hours | 13:00 | Working hours |
| 05:00 | 15:00 | Working hours | 14:00 | Working hours |
| 06:00 | 16:00 | Working hours | 15:00 | Working hours |
| 07:00 | 17:00 | Working hours | 16:00 | Working hours |
| 08:00 | 18:00 | Evening | 17:00 | Working hours |
| 09:00 | 19:00 | Evening | 18:00 | Evening |
| 10:00 | 20:00 | Evening | 19:00 | Evening |
| 11:00 | 21:00 | Late night | 20:00 | Evening |
| 12:00 | 22:00 | Late night | 21:00 | Late night |
| 13:00 | 23:00 | Late night | 22:00 | Late night |
| 14:00 | 00:00 next day | Asleep | 23:00 | Late night |
| 15:00 | 01:00 next day | Asleep | 00:00 next day | Asleep |
| 16:00 | 02:00 next day | Asleep | 01:00 next day | Asleep |
| 17:00 | 03:00 next day | Asleep | 02:00 next day | Asleep |
| 18:00 | 04:00 next day | Asleep | 03:00 next day | Asleep |
| 19:00 | 05:00 next day | Asleep | 04:00 next day | Asleep |
| 20:00 | 06:00 next day | Early morning | 05:00 next day | Asleep |
| 21:00 | 07:00 next day | Early morning | 06:00 next day | Early morning |
| 22:00 | 08:00 next day | Early morning | 07:00 next day | Early morning |
| 23:00 | 09:00 next day | Working hours | 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 Sydney | 08:00 next day in Tokyo |
| 12:00 in Sydney | 11:00 in Tokyo |
| 15:00 in Sydney | 14:00 in Tokyo |
| 17:00 in Sydney | 16:00 in Tokyo |
Daylight saving
Sydney next moves its clocks forward on 4 October 2026, to UTC+11. Tokyo does not observe daylight saving — this offset is fixed all year.
Only one side changes its clocks
Sydney 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 Sydney side. A recurring meeting fixed to local time in Tokyo will appear to move by an hour in Sydney, and vice versa.
Scheduling across this corridor
East Asia and Australia share a large part of the working day — the offset is small enough that a mid-afternoon meeting works for both. The complication is seasonal and one-sided: Japan, Korea and China hold a fixed offset while south-eastern Australia moves an hour for daylight saving, so the gap widens during the southern summer and closes again in the southern winter. New Zealand adds a further hour on top.
About Sydney
Sydney observes daylight saving on the southern-hemisphere schedule, moving forward in October and back in April — the opposite of the northern hemisphere. For part of the year the two hemispheres are both on summer time, and the gap between Sydney and Europe or North America changes twice as much across the year as people expect. Australia is not a single timezone: the eastern states, South Australia and Western Australia all differ, and not all of them observe daylight saving.
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 Sydney and Tokyo in the grid
Related time differences
Intl API and were last generated on 27 August 2026. See how we calculate these figures.