Find the best meeting times for US-Japan collaboration. Navigate the 13-17 hour time difference, discover optimal overlap windows, and learn cultural tips for successful business calls.
How to Schedule Meetings Between the US and Japan
I once watched a VP in New York propose a "quick 10 AM call" with the Tokyo office. Someone finally told him that's 11 PM in Japan. He was genuinely surprised.
The US-Japan time gap is brutal — 13 to 17 hours depending on which coast you're on. You're basically on opposite sides of the clock. When Tokyo's starting their morning coffee, New York is wrapping up yesterday afternoon.
But companies make this work every day. Here's how.
The Time Gap Breakdown
Japan uses Japan Standard Time (JST), which is UTC+9 year-round. No daylight saving nonsense. The US has four main timezones and does the DST dance twice a year, which shifts the gap by an hour.
| US Zone | Standard Time Gap | Daylight Time Gap |
|---------|------------------|-------------------|
| Eastern (NYC) | 14 hours behind | 13 hours behind |
| Central (Chicago) | 15 hours behind | 14 hours behind |
| Mountain (Denver) | 16 hours behind | 15 hours behind |
| Pacific (LA) | 17 hours behind | 16 hours behind |
Real example: When it's 9 AM Monday in Tokyo, it's 7 PM Sunday in New York. Different day. This causes more confusion than you'd think.
According to timeanddate.com's timezone data, Japan abandoned DST in 1951 and hasn't looked back. Smart move. More in our JST guide.
Finding Meeting Windows That Don't Destroy Lives
Option A: Early Morning US, Evening Japan
Meeting around 7-9 AM Eastern catches 8-10 PM in Tokyo.
| US City | Time | Tokyo Time |
|---------|------|------------|
| New York | 7 AM | 8 PM (same calendar day) |
| Chicago | 6 AM | 8 PM |
| LA | 4 AM | 8 PM |
Works if East Coast folks can start early. Japan side stays a bit late but it's not midnight or anything.
Problem: LA people have to wake up at 4 AM. That's not sustainable.
Option B: Late Evening US, Morning Japan
Meet around 8-10 PM Eastern, which is 9-11 AM the next day in Tokyo.
| US City | Time | Tokyo Time |
|---------|------|------------|
| New York | 8 PM | 9 AM (next day) |
| Chicago | 7 PM | 9 AM |
| LA | 5 PM | 9 AM |
Better for West Coast — they can end their day with the call. Tokyo team starts their morning with it.
Problem: NYC is joining at 8 PM their time.
Option C: Rotate Both
For regular meetings, alternate between Option A and Option B weekly. Everyone takes turns with the bad slot. See our rotating meeting times guide for how to actually implement this without chaos.
Why Silicon Valley Has It Easier
Counter-intuitively, the West Coast's bigger gap (16-17 hours vs 13-14) actually works better. A 5 PM Pacific meeting hits 9 AM in Tokyo — Japan gets normal morning hours, California gets end of workday. Doable.
Also, tech culture on the West Coast is way more flexible about non-standard hours. You'll find more people willing to do early or late meetings.
This is why so much US-Asia business runs through California. More on Pacific Time's global advantages in our California timezone guide.
Cultural Stuff You Can't Ignore
Don't Be Late. Ever.
Japanese business culture treats punctuality like a moral virtue. Being three minutes late to a call is genuinely disrespectful.
What I do:
- Send calendar invites way in advance
- Confirm 24 hours before
- Log in 2-3 minutes early to test video/audio
- Start exactly on time
Silence Isn't Awkward
In Japanese meetings, long pauses happen. It doesn't mean they disagree or aren't paying attention. They're thinking. Don't fill every silence with chatter.
Seniority matters in speaking order. Address the senior person first. Don't interrupt.
After-Hours Meetings Might Be Okay
Japanese work culture involves long hours (though this is slowly changing). An 8 PM Tokyo meeting might be more acceptable than you'd guess. But don't assume — ask. And thank them explicitly for staying late.
Tools That Actually Help
The Time Zone Converter shows you what time it is right now in both places. Bookmark Tokyo ↔ your city.
The Overlap Finder visualizes when working hours intersect. With US-Japan, you'll see how small that window is.
The Meeting Planner handles the math and shows you suggested times that work for both sides.
Real Scheduling Examples
SF Engineering Team + Tokyo Engineers
Setup: 5 engineers in San Francisco, 3 in Tokyo
Schedule:
- Monday 5:30 PM PST = Tuesday 10:30 AM JST (Tokyo morning standup)
- Thursday 7 AM PST = Thursday 11 PM JST (end-of-week sync, Japan evening)
Alternates who gets the rough timeslot.
NYC Executives + Tokyo Office
Setup: Quarterly business review
Schedule: 7:30 AM EST = 9:30 PM JST
NYC starts their day with it. Tokyo stays 1.5 hours late, but for quarterly meetings that's acceptable.
DST Makes This Worse Twice a Year
Japan doesn't do DST. The US does. So twice a year, your time difference shifts by an hour.
| Period | NYC Gap | LA Gap |
|--------|---------|--------|
| Nov-Mar (US Standard) | 14 hours | 17 hours |
| Mar-Nov (US Daylight) | 13 hours | 16 hours |
When US clocks change, recalculate everything. Check the Spring 2026 DST guide for exact dates.
Maybe You Don't Need a Meeting
With a 13-17 hour gap, question whether you need live calls at all.
Video recordings: Record a 5-minute update. They watch it and record a response. Async, no scheduling pain.
Shared docs: Use Google Docs or Notion with comment threads. Both teams contribute during their normal hours.
Overlap days: Designate 1-2 days per week for live meetings. Everything else is async.
More on balancing sync/async in our communication guide.
Mistakes I've Seen
Proposing only US-convenient times: Always ask what works for them. Don't just throw out times that are great for you and midnight for them.
Ignoring Japanese holidays: Golden Week (late April-early May), Obon (mid-August), New Year (Dec 29-Jan 3). Check a Japanese calendar before scheduling anything important.
Over-scheduling: The overlap window is small. Don't pack it full of back-to-back calls. Leave breathing room.
Bottom Line
US-Japan scheduling is hard but not impossible:
- Know the gap (13-17 hours)
- Use early morning US or late evening US windows
- Be punctual and culturally aware
- Use tools: Meeting Planner, Overlap Finder, Time Zone Converter
- Consider async alternatives
Also check out Pacific vs Eastern Time for US internal differences and remote team timezone management for broader strategies.
Try the Meeting Planner to find your US-Japan overlap windows.
Martin Šikula
Founder of WhenestI work with distributed teams daily — whether it's coordinating with developers across time zones or scheduling client calls across continents. I built Whenest because existing tools were either too complex or too expensive for something that should be simple.