Best Time to Call Tokyo from Los Angeles
🕐 Live Timezone Overlap: Tokyo & Los Angeles
Tokyo and Los Angeles sit 16 hours apart, which means one city is always a day ahead of the other. When a Tokyo team wraps up at 6pm on a Tuesday, Los Angeles is still at 2am the same morning. There is no overlap between standard working hours in the two cities. Any meeting requires at least one side to step outside 9am to 6pm, so deciding early which team carries that burden is the single most important scheduling consideration.
Time Difference: Tokyo and Los Angeles
Los Angeles is currently 16 hours behind Tokyo. The live offsets are Tokyo UTC+9 and Los Angeles UTC-7. Tokyo does not observe daylight saving and Los Angeles observes daylight saving, so the offset shifts twice a year if both sides aren't already aligned.
Tokyo runs at UTC+9 throughout the year. Japan does not observe DST, so that offset never changes. Los Angeles is currently at UTC-7, observing Pacific Daylight Time. It shifts to UTC-8 in standard time, following US federal rules: clocks go back on the first Sunday in November and forward on the second Sunday in March. That means the gap between Tokyo and Los Angeles is 16 hours during US daylight time and widens to 17 hours during US standard time.
Best Times to Meet
With zero hours of working-hour overlap, every call involves out-of-hours commitment from one or both sides. The least disruptive slot is typically 7am to 9am Los Angeles time, which lands at 11pm to 1am in Tokyo the same calendar night. Alternatively, a Tokyo team willing to stay until 8pm catches Los Angeles at 4am, which is still early. Note that Tokyo working days start strictly at 9am, and Friday meetings past 5pm Tokyo time are rarely accepted by international partners.
Working Hours Overlap Explained
Tokyo operates on Asia/Tokyo (currently UTC+9). Los Angeles operates on America/Los_Angeles (currently UTC-7). The table below maps a standard 9:00 AM–6:00 PM day in Tokyo to Los Angeles's local time.
| Tokyo time | Los Angeles time | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM | 5:00 PM | Los Angeles in business hours |
| 10:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Los Angeles wrapping up |
| 11:00 AM | 7:00 PM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 12:00 PM | 8:00 PM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 1:00 PM | 9:00 PM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 2:00 PM | 10:00 PM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 3:00 PM | 11:00 PM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 4:00 PM | 12:00 AM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 5:00 PM | 1:00 AM | Los Angeles outside hours |
| 6:00 PM | 2:00 AM | Los Angeles outside hours |
Tips for Scheduling Across Tokyo and Los Angeles
- Rotate the out-of-hours burden: ask Tokyo to stay late one week, then ask Los Angeles to start early the next.
- Avoid scheduling across Tokyo's Golden Week (29 April to 5 May); most offices there close for four to five days.
- Los Angeles clocks shift in March and November, moving the gap from 16 to 17 hours. Update recurring invites accordingly.
- Friday afternoon is quiet in Los Angeles and meetings past 5pm on Fridays are rarely accepted in Tokyo. Avoid Fridays.
- A standing async update sent by Tokyo at close of business reaches Los Angeles the same evening, reducing live calls.
Public Holidays and Working Weeks
Both cities observe a Monday-to-Friday working week with hours running 9am to 6pm as a baseline, though some LA media and tech offices skew later, starting at 10am and finishing at 7pm. Tokyo's Golden Week runs from 29 April to 5 May, closing most offices for four to five days. Los Angeles observes Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November and Christmas Day on 25 December. Cross-city scheduling must account for both holiday calendars to avoid missed replies or empty meeting rooms.