A quick note on a quick my Tweet, as I’ve seen increased chatter over the last week on questions surrounding daylight saving time and time zone changes in Japan, South Korea and Russia.
No matter how bad it appears it could always be worse. I mean, we could see a number our countries decide to implement daylight saving time come December 31, 2008.
Not that we will (hopefully).
Over the past few weeks, I heard that some officials in Japan were again considering DST. As you may know, Japan is one of a few countries in the northern hemisphere that does not implement daylight saving time or summer time. Prior to his resignation, the previous Prime Minister (Fukuda) expressed an interest in implementing daylight saving time in 2010. And there are reports of some Japanese citizens in Hokkaido follow an optional, unofficial daylight saving time schedule (aka “summertime system”).
If it wasn’t confusing enough already. As you may recall, the occasional changes to DST and time zones around the world can have worldwide impacts.
I think that such new reports cause some some of the confusion internationally. A recent news article in Chosun Ilbo by columnist Kim Dong-seop certainly calls this to attention, noting talks between officials from South Korea and Japan on a Joint Daylight Saving Plan. Perhaps by some of the perception challenges that one would have to overcome…
“Korean labor circles are opposed to summer time on the grounds that it will only prolong working hours since Korean corporate culture makes it hard to leave work and go home on time.
“In May, the Japanese Society of Sleep published a report asserting that the introduction of daylight saving time would increase depression and suicide, causing economic loss worth 1.2 trillion yen (W932 per 100 yen).”
So far, from what we know, neither Japan nor South Korea has any concrete plans to adopt DST. Neither has Russia, even in light of the news from the same above article…
“Meanwhile, the Russian Parliament is considering abolishing daylight saving after the system was seen to increase cases of acute myocardial infarction and suicide among workers.”
Ouch. I have heard that the government there has so far decided not to make any changes to DST/summer time in the country. From what I have been told, this has been discussed by the Russian parliament many times over the past several years, but no changes have been made.
Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia, Japan, South Korea; 4,370,000 (up from 3.6M a month ago); 2,360,000 (up from 900K a year ago, down 100K since last month)
The government of Brazil announced a change in the observance of daylight saving time in the country. According to the details in the Ministry’s Decree number 6558 of September 8, 2008, DST there will start the third Sunday of October and then end generally on the third Sunday of February of the following year. As confirmed on Brazil’s Ministry of Energy web site, the Electric Power Sector Monitoring Committee (the Comitê de Monitoramento do Setor Elétrico, or CMSE) set the new dates for DST, which will begin on October 19, 2008, and end on February 15, 2009. (See 
