What is the time difference between San Francisco and Tokyo?
Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco today. San Francisco is on UTC−7, Tokyo on UTC+9. The difference changes on Sunday, November 1, 2026.
San Francisco to Tokyo: time difference and best time to meet
Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco right now.
When it is 9:00 AM in San Francisco, it is 1:00 AM in Tokyo, next day. The green band on each scale is the working day, 9 AM to 6 PM. Drag a scale until both bands sit on the red line.
Hours that work for both
Both cities are inside a 9-to-6 working day 5:00 PM–6:00 PM in San Francisco (9:00 AM–10:00 AM in Tokyo) — 1 hour in total.
San FranciscoTokyo
12:00 AM4:00 PM
1:00 AM5:00 PM
2:00 AM6:00 PM
3:00 AM7:00 PM
4:00 AM8:00 PM
5:00 AM9:00 PM
6:00 AM10:00 PM
7:00 AM11:00 PM
8:00 AM12:00 AMnext day
9:00 AM1:00 AMnext day
10:00 AM2:00 AMnext day
11:00 AM3:00 AMnext day
12:00 PM4:00 AMnext day
1:00 PM5:00 AMnext day
2:00 PM6:00 AMnext day
3:00 PM7:00 AMnext day
4:00 PM8:00 AMnext day
5:00 PM9:00 AMnext day
6:00 PM10:00 AMnext day
7:00 PM11:00 AMnext day
8:00 PM12:00 PMnext day
9:00 PM1:00 PMnext day
10:00 PM2:00 PMnext day
11:00 PM3:00 PMnext day
both at work both awake
When the difference changes
San Francisco and Tokyo do not change their clocks on the same day, so the difference is not always 16 hours:
- from Sunday, November 1, 2026 it is 17 hours (was 16 hours)
- from Sunday, March 14, 2027 it is 16 hours (was 17 hours)
The scales above already follow these dates: drag to any day in the next two weeks and the difference shown is the one for that day.
Questions
What is the best time for a call between San Francisco and Tokyo?
During working hours for both: 5:00 PM–6:00 PM in San Francisco (9:00 AM–10:00 AM in Tokyo). That is 1 hour of shared working time.
When it is 9:00 AM in San Francisco, what time is it in Tokyo?
1:00 AM, next day. And when it is 9:00 AM in Tokyo, it is 5:00 PM in San Francisco.
More
Open San Francisco and Tokyo full screen · Plan a meeting for other cities