Buzz
Observing late-night TV programs and early morning newspapers in Japan might reveal a peculiar sight - timestamps like 25:30, 27:00. What's the secret behind these seemingly extended hours?
If you're an avid viewer of Japanese TV shows or anime, you might have noticed a strange phenomenon - programs displaying airing times exceeding the usual 24-hour cycle.
Take the airing time of a TV show below, with timestamps like 25:30 or even 27:00. Does this mean the Japanese live in a different time dimension where a day lasts longer than 24 hours?
Not really. The Japanese still go through 24 hours a day like the rest of the world. However, for late-night activities like TV shows, bars, clubs, they use a slightly different time system - let's call it the 30-hour clock. In this system, a day concludes at 6 AM instead of the usual midnight.
So, during the time from 24h to 6 AM, businesses or late-night programs convert to this 30-hour clock. For instance, 1 AM becomes 25h, and 2:45 AM becomes 26h45.
Why the complexity? It's not as intricate as it seems. They employ this peculiar time system to ensure users of services don't get confused about operating hours and to avoid specifying day/night hours explicitly. For instance, a late-night bar, instead of stating it opens from 10 PM to 2 AM, might succinctly note 22h-26h, assuming customers understand.
For example, the Dondon Donki store chain in Japan displays operating hours from 8:00 to 25:00, meaning it opens from 8 AM to 1 AM the next day. If stated as 8:00 to 1:00, customers might mistakenly think the store only operates until 1 PM.
The reason behind this time system partly lies in considering closing time as an extension of the previous workday and perhaps stems from a cultural perception that late nights or early mornings are a continuation of the previous day, rather than a clear division at the 24-hour mark. TV stations also frequently use this notation in their late-night schedules. However, it's rarely employed in everyday conversations.
In casual communication, this time system may be used when night shift employees refer to their work hours to avoid confusion between night and day shifts. Another benefit is the ease of calculating work hours using this system. For instance, a facility operating from 6 PM to 25h can be easily understood as active for 7 hours. In contrast, using the conventional approach worldwide would require an extra step of adding or subtracting past the 24-hour mark, just a few seconds more but a bit inconvenient if you're busy.
