How often and in what situations is what we call "military time" used in Japan? (example: 18:00 instead of 6:00 PM) Is time telling like 午後６時 becoming more common than saying it's 18:00? I see that "military" time is used often on news websites and things like that, and I've seen Japanese friends use it in emails. How often in Japan is this time format used in comparison with usage of the format that's used in America?

I have no idea, but wouldn't it be wonderful if the whole world used the logical 24 hour time system instead of the stupid confusing AM-PM crap?

To be fair the 24-hour clock system sucks almost as much as the 12-hour one. But switching to some kind of decimal system is not going to happen so it's the lesser of two evils.

I never paid much attention to it, but I think 午前(am) terms 午後(pm) are used much more.

I disagree - I think the 24 hour clock is far more common in Japan than it is in the west. You'll see it on documents and notices a lot. Japanese learners of English also often make the mistake of using 24 hour time.

I think it's mostly the US that is reluctant to using the 24h system not "the west"

"Military Time" is indeed the norm.

When I lived in Japan, I didn't hear anything but 午後 and 午前. In fact, I don't even know how to say time in military format in Japanese since I've never heard it.

I guess it might be used more often in writing though.

(In Sweden, we use military time for all forms of writing, but we still state time in a 12hour format most of the time.)

I've seen both. The 24 hr time seems used in e-mail more than not. I've seen it in the FNN clips and other places as well. However, the colon is used which separates it from military time (no colon).

*edit* Obviously Aijin offers the most reliable answer. I gotta remember to look at names when I read posts.

Digital clocks, computers, business times, train schedules, tv schedules, etc, etc, all use the 24-hour clock. For mentioning times verbally, however, you can just use 午後 and 午前.

I should also note that it's not extremely uncommon for late-night businesses to list closing time as 25:00, 26:00. I dunno the exact reason why they feel the need to go over 24 hours, but you'll see it sometimes on pubs.

Codexus Wrote:I think it's mostly the US that is reluctant to using the 24h system not "the west"

yeah when I went to Eastern Europe many years back they were on the 24hr system, I think the term Military Time is only used in the US and Canada though. Do they actually call it by that name in Japan? I'm not sure, because Aijin used quotations, if she's agreeing or directly quoting.

Nope, it's not called "military time" in Japan. To me it's silly to give it a name like that, since it's just the normal way of reading time there. Americans would probably think it a bit strange too if I called their clocks "American time"

mmh, I've seen both used a lot of times. But honestly, I don't even know how to pronounce things like 18:00 since I've never hear it being used in speech until now.

But, another thing I found remarkable is the use of times like 25:00. Was quite confused when I encountered that at first, lol.

Aijin Wrote:Nope, it's not called "military time" in Japan. To me it's silly to give it a name like that, since it's just the normal way of reading time there. Americans would probably think it a bit strange too if I called their clocks "American time"

I feel the same way because we use it at my work, so there is no mistake about when a flight is coming in or when a team is supposed to be working a flight. My buddy at work though insists on calling it Military time though.

Nukemarine Wrote:However, the colon is used which separates it from military time (no colon).

I never knew that, that is very interesting.

Aijin Wrote:I should also note that it's not extremely uncommon for late-night businesses to list closing time as 25:00, 26:00. I dunno the exact reason why they feel the need to go over 24 hours, but you'll see it sometimes on pubs.

Hah! For those lushes who want to drink MORE than 24/7, here's the solution

Codexus Wrote:I think it's mostly the US that is reluctant to using the 24h system not "the west"

Human in general are reluctant to change. Especially, when stuff don't much look broken.

I wish the rest of America would get rid of that ridiculous Daylight Savings Time. We don't have that silly thing here in Hawaii and I can never remember how many hours to add for the mainland depending on what time of year it is.

Hey, hey, daylight savings is amazing when you're taking tons of night courses at a university in the fall semester. When it kept getting darker earlier at night I was exhausted in my classes, and then the savior that is known as Daylight Savings arrived and rescued me from my tribulations.

Other than that though I agree that it's a pain in the butt.

Thanks everyone! Especially Aijin for the specifics on when/where the 24 system is used. I wonder if there's a better term than the less accurate "military time"... does anyone know if there's an official title?

When I got here and referred to 3 oclock as san ji I got confused looks and was asked if I meant ju-go-ji or san ji. It seems pretty common in the schools in Hachinohe. I only use it now and only hear it used. Sometimes my Japanese friends will use gogo~, but when I tell them I'm going to stop hanging out with them if they talk like that they shut up right quick.

On a side note, Japan uses a slightly different time system than US/UK:

http://wpedia.mobile.goo.ne.jp/wiki/1572...F%8C%E3/3/

The main difference is what time 12:XX am/pm refers to.

By the way, I love 辰刻.

bodhisamaya Wrote:I wish the rest of America would get rid of that ridiculous Daylight Savings Time. We don't have that silly thing here in Hawaii and I can never remember how many hours to add for the mainland depending on what time of year it is.

When you are located in the tropics, DST is rather silly. The farther you get from the tropics, the more sense it makes however. Changes in latitude, changes in attitude.

Japan had it under the occupation, but dumped it because farmers in Western Japan hated it. But Eastern Japan (where the bulk of the population is urban) has to put up with midsummer civil dawn (the time at which most outdoor activities can commence, usually when the sun is about 6 degrees below the horizon) at just past THREE am.

It also *does* save energy, because some facilities that need to be illuminated in the evening would not need as much, or in some cases any, illumination around the hours of 4 or 5 am.

As for adding hours to calculate the mainland time: It's either 2 (winter) or 3 (summer). How tough is that to handle?

I'll grant you that what *is* inconvenient about DST is that it has no standardization (some parts of western Indiana seem blithely unaware that the 20th century ever came, or went) and that its start and end dates are almost routinely adjusted these days.

Interesting how different cultures handle time, however. China, as I'm sure most people know, is all on the *same* time zone. This is an east-west spread as wide as the continental US. So folks out west in China (not many out there, but more than zero of course) are getting up and having breakfast in the dark (sunrise is around 10 am). They are mostly agrarians, so maybe they just sleep very, very late. At some point however, I doubt if Beijing is going to be able to maintain this absurdity. (Before railroads mandated common time of course, all time was local, with noon being when the sun was at the top of its arc.)

Japan uses the 24-hour clock in almost all published or posted circumstances, and almost never, ever uses it in speech. It's about that simple. (Pretty sure I have *never* heard anyone say 'Jusan-ji' or higher, although the rule about exceptions almost surely means someone has.)

If I remember correctly, the reason shops close at 25:00 or 26:00 (other than looking like they're working awesomely hard) is because they close at 1am or 2am. It's better than saying 18:00-24:00; 00:00-01:00 for instance.

magamo Wrote:By the way, I love 辰刻.

RTK spot kanji quiz! How many do you know/remember? (me: forgot 3 )

卯 辰 巳 午 未 申 酉 戌 亥 子 丑 寅

[Answers below, plus some interesting trivia from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_clock]

* Japanese traditionally used unequal hours: six daytime units from local sunrise, and six night time units from sunset.So clock hours varied with the seasons (daylight hours were longer in summer,etc.)

*The typical clock had six numbered hours from 9 to 4, which counted backwards from noon until midnight. 1 - 3 were not used in Japan for religious reasons (bc these numbers of strokes were used by Buddhists to call to prayer.) The count ran backwards because the earliest artificial timekeepers used the burning of incense to count down the time.

*Each numbered hour was also assigned a sign from the Japanese zodiac.

Hare 卯 6 (dawn)
Dragon 辰 5
Serpent 巳 4
Horse 午 9 (noon)
Ram 未 8
Monkey 申 7

Cock 酉 6 (dusk)
Dog 戌 5
Boar 亥 4
Rat 子 9(midnight)
Ox 丑 8
Tiger 寅 7

There's a cultural richness that makes digital or decimal systems seem a bit soulless. =] (You sometimes see these on watches sold to tourists.)

Oh, I see "Military Time" is how the US refers to "24-hour clock".

I always thought "Military Time" just meant saying the time like in the army 0600 "oh-six-hundred-hours".