What is the time difference between San Francisco and Tokyo?

Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco. That figure is current — it changes by an hour when either city starts or ends daylight saving, and the exact dates are listed above.

When is the best time to call Tokyo from San Francisco?

Between 17:00–18:00 in San Francisco, which is 09:00–10:00 in Tokyo. That is the only stretch where both cities are inside a 09:00–18:00 day.

Does San Francisco observe daylight saving time?

Yes. San Francisco runs on UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer. The next change is on 2026-11-01, when clocks go back by 60 minutes.

Does Tokyo observe daylight saving time?

No. Tokyo stays on UTC+9 all year, so its clocks never move.

If it is midday in San Francisco, what time is it in Tokyo?

It is 04:00 in Tokyo, and already the following day. That holds for the current offsets; it shifts by an hour around the daylight saving dates listed above.

Which time zones do San Francisco and Tokyo use?

San Francisco uses America/Los_Angeles, currently UTC-7 (PDT), and Tokyo uses Asia/Tokyo, currently UTC+9. Those identifiers are the ones to use in code — abbreviations are ambiguous and offsets change.

Convert San Francisco time to Tokyo time

Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco right now, so midday in San Francisco lands in the small hours in Tokyo.

Convert a time

From

Date

Time

Converted time

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The converter needs JavaScript to run. Everything below — offsets, daylight saving dates and the hour-by-hour table — is part of the page and works without it.

Hour by hour

Every hour of a day in San Francisco, and what the clock reads in Tokyo at that same moment.

San Francisco	Tokyo
00:00	16:00
01:00	17:00
02:00	18:00
03:00	19:00
04:00	20:00
05:00	21:00
06:00	22:00
07:00	23:00
08:00	00:00next day
09:00	01:00next day
10:00	02:00next day
11:00	03:00next day
12:00	04:00next day
13:00	05:00next day
14:00	06:00next day
15:00	07:00next day
16:00	08:00next day
17:00	09:00next day
18:00	10:00next day
19:00	11:00next day
20:00	12:00next day
21:00	13:00next day
22:00	14:00next day
23:00	15:00next day

Daylight saving time

Tokyo keeps one offset all year while San Francisco moves twice. That is the whole reason this difference is seasonal.

San Francisco

Observes daylight saving time

Standard: UTC-8
Daylight: UTC-7
Next change: 2026-11-01 −60m

Tokyo

Does not observe daylight saving time

Standard: UTC+9

When you can actually talk

The window is 1 hour wide — 17:00–18:00 in San Francisco, 09:00–10:00 in Tokyo.

San Francisco 17:00–18:00Tokyo 09:00–10:00

Reference

The underlying data, in case you need to put it in a calendar invitation or a configuration file.

	San Francisco	Tokyo
IANA zone	America/Los_Angeles	Asia/Tokyo
Abbreviation	PDT	UTC+9
Standard offset	UTC-8	UTC+9
Daylight offset	UTC-7	—
Clock changes this year	2	0
Country	United States	Japan

Example, not the current time. Live times appear once the page loads.

Common questions

What is the time difference between San Francisco and Tokyo?: Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco. That figure is current — it changes by an hour when either city starts or ends daylight saving, and the exact dates are listed above.
When is the best time to call Tokyo from San Francisco?: Between 17:00–18:00 in San Francisco, which is 09:00–10:00 in Tokyo. That is the only stretch where both cities are inside a 09:00–18:00 day.
Does San Francisco observe daylight saving time?: Yes. San Francisco runs on UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer. The next change is on 2026-11-01, when clocks go back by 60 minutes.
Does Tokyo observe daylight saving time?: No. Tokyo stays on UTC+9 all year, so its clocks never move.
If it is midday in San Francisco, what time is it in Tokyo?: It is 04:00 in Tokyo, and already the following day. That holds for the current offsets; it shifts by an hour around the daylight saving dates listed above.
Which time zones do San Francisco and Tokyo use?: San Francisco uses America/Los_Angeles, currently UTC-7 (PDT), and Tokyo uses Asia/Tokyo, currently UTC+9. Those identifiers are the ones to use in code — abbreviations are ambiguous and offsets change.