Best Time to Call London from Tokyo
🕐 Live Timezone Overlap: London & Tokyo
Scheduling a call between London and Tokyo means working across a substantial time gap. Tokyo sits 8 hours ahead of London in winter and 9 hours behind once British Summer Time begins, which leaves just 1 hour of overlap within standard working hours. That single hour, 9am to 10am in London and 5pm to 6pm in Tokyo, is the only window where neither side is outside a 9am to 6pm working day. Getting this right from the start saves both teams from repeated rescheduling.
Time Difference: London and Tokyo
Tokyo is currently 8 hours ahead of London. The live offsets are London UTC+1 and Tokyo UTC+9. London observes daylight saving and Tokyo does not, so the offset shifts twice a year if both sides aren't already aligned.
London currently runs at UTC+1, meaning British Summer Time is in effect. Tokyo stays fixed at UTC+9 year-round because Japan does not observe DST. The gap therefore shifts with the UK calendar: 8 hours when London is on BST, and 9 hours when London reverts to GMT each autumn. Tokyo's working day is unaffected, but London-side planners need to track those changeover dates carefully, since a meeting booked for 9am London time will land at a different Tokyo hour depending on the season.
Best Times to Meet
The overlap between London and Tokyo is 1 hour: 9am to 10am London time, which is 5pm to 6pm in Tokyo. Inside that 1-hour window, the cleanest slot is typically 9am to 9:30am London time, catching Tokyo teams before they reach the close of day. Tokyo offices start strictly at 9am, so the London side faces no risk of calling too early. One caveat: on Fridays, meetings past 5pm are rare for Tokyo's international-facing teams, so a Friday slot at the edge of this window may get less engagement.
Working Hours Overlap Explained
London operates on Europe/London (currently UTC+1). Tokyo operates on Asia/Tokyo (currently UTC+9). The table below maps a standard 9:00 AM–6:00 PM day in London to Tokyo's local time.
| London time | Tokyo time | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM | 5:00 PM | Tokyo in business hours |
| 10:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Tokyo wrapping up |
| 11:00 AM | 7:00 PM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 12:00 PM | 8:00 PM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 1:00 PM | 9:00 PM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 2:00 PM | 10:00 PM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 3:00 PM | 11:00 PM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 4:00 PM | 12:00 AM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 5:00 PM | 1:00 AM | Tokyo outside hours |
| 6:00 PM | 2:00 AM | Tokyo outside hours |
Tips for Scheduling Across London and Tokyo
- Book London-Tokyo calls at 9am London time; this lands at 5pm or 6pm Tokyo depending on the season.
- Avoid scheduling across Golden Week (29 April to 5 May): Tokyo offices typically close for four to five days.
- When British Summer Time ends each autumn, the London-Tokyo gap widens from 8 hours to 9 hours; update recurring invites accordingly.
- Friday calls landing at 5pm or later in Tokyo are rarely accepted by international-facing teams; favour Monday to Thursday for that slot.
- London's May Bank Holiday and Tokyo's Golden Week overlap: treat the first week of May as a near-total blackout for cross-city meetings.
Public Holidays and Working Weeks
Both cities follow a Monday to Friday working week with hours running 9am to 6pm. Tokyo's most disruptive holiday block is Golden Week, running 29 April to 5 May, when most offices close for four to five days. London observes the May Bank Holiday on the first Monday in May, which falls inside that same window. Scheduling cross-city meetings in late April or early May requires checking both calendars. Tokyo also observes Obon in mid-August; London teams should note this when planning summer calls.