EST to JST
When it is 8:00 PM in New York, it is 10:00 AM the next morning in Tokyo during winter and 9:00 AM during US daylight time. Japan never changes its clocks, so the gap from the East Coast is 14 hours from November to March and 13 hours the rest of the year.
Convert the other way: JST → EST
When Tokyo is already on tomorrow's date
From 10:00 AM Eastern in winter, or 11:00 AM in summer, Tokyo has already rolled into the next day. An email sent at 5:00 PM on a Thursday in New York arrives at 7:00 AM Friday in Tokyo in winter and 6:00 AM Friday in summer, which is why New York teams that end the week with a request often get an answer only on Monday: by the time Japan reads it, the Japanese work week is almost over.
The same arithmetic explains why Japanese fans watch American sports with breakfast. A 7:05 PM Eastern baseball game in July starts at 8:05 AM in Tokyo, and late-night anime aired in Japan at 11:00 PM shows up on simulcast services around 9:00 AM Eastern in winter and 10:00 AM in summer.
What the US clock change does to recurring meetings
Calendar invites created in New York keep their Eastern time, so the Tokyo side moves. A standing 8:00 PM Eastern call sits at 10:00 AM in Tokyo through the winter; after the second Sunday of March it jumps to 9:00 AM, and on the first Sunday of November it returns to 10:00 AM. If the call is anchored in Tokyo instead, it is the New York side that shifts by an hour on those dates.
Write both times in the invite, including the weekday, for example "Tue 9:00 JST / Mon 8:00 PM EDT". Japanese schedules often use the 24-hour clock, so "21:00" is clearer than "9 PM" for a Japanese reader. For any other city pair, the time zone converter applies the rules for the date you pick.
Cities on these zones
EST → JST quick reference
Every hour of the day, using today's offsets (daylight saving is applied automatically).
| EST | JST |
|---|---|
| 12:00 AM | 1:00 PM |
| 1:00 AM | 2:00 PM |
| 2:00 AM | 3:00 PM |
| 3:00 AM | 4:00 PM |
| 4:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| 5:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| 6:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| 7:00 AM | 8:00 PM |
| 8:00 AM | 9:00 PM |
| 9:00 AM | 10:00 PM |
| 10:00 AM | 11:00 PM |
| 11:00 AM | 12:00 AM+1 |
| EST | JST |
|---|---|
| 12:00 PM | 1:00 AM+1 |
| 1:00 PM | 2:00 AM+1 |
| 2:00 PM | 3:00 AM+1 |
| 3:00 PM | 4:00 AM+1 |
| 4:00 PM | 5:00 AM+1 |
| 5:00 PM | 6:00 AM+1 |
| 6:00 PM | 7:00 AM+1 |
| 7:00 PM | 8:00 AM+1 |
| 8:00 PM | 9:00 AM+1 |
| 9:00 PM | 10:00 AM+1 |
| 10:00 PM | 11:00 AM+1 |
| 11:00 PM | 12:00 PM+1 |
- Difference right now
- JST 13 hours ahead of EST
- Shared office hours
- No weekday working hours overlap; one side has to stretch before 9:00 or after 17:00.
- Daylight saving
- Only EST shifts its clocks
Clock changes this year
- Mar 8, 2026EST: clocks go forward, UTC−5 → UTC−4
- Nov 1, 2026EST: clocks go back, UTC−4 → UTC−5
- —JST: no clock changes this year
Other conversions with these zones
Frequently asked questions
- If it is 8 PM Eastern, what time is it in Japan?
- 10:00 AM the next day in winter (EST) and 9:00 AM the next day in summer (EDT).
- Why does the New York–Tokyo difference change in November?
- On the first Sunday of November the US falls back from EDT to EST. Japan does not change, so the gap grows from 13 to 14 hours until the second Sunday of March.
- What is the best time to call Japan from the East Coast?
- Between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM Eastern, which is the start of the next business day in Tokyo. Morning calls from New York land in the middle of the Japanese night.
- From what time in New York is Tokyo on the next date?
- From 10:00 AM EST in winter and 11:00 AM EDT in summer. After that moment, any date you give a Japanese colleague should be the following day.
- Which Japanese holidays should a New York team plan around?
- Golden Week in late April and early May, the Obon period in mid-August, and the New Year break that usually runs from about December 29 to January 3, when many offices close.