Working with Tokyo Teams Remotely
Time zone overlap, meeting times & async strategies
⚡ Quick Answer
Tokyo (JST) is 14 hours ahead of New York, 9 hours ahead of London. Best overlap: 8-10 AM Tokyo = 6-8 PM previous day NYC. Consider async workflows — real-time collaboration with Western teams is challenging.
🌍 Time Zone Overlap
Tokyo Morning (8-10 AM JST)
- • New York: 6-8 PM previous day (EST)
- • London: 11 PM - 1 AM (GMT)
- • Sydney: 10 AM - 12 PM (AEDT)
Tokyo Evening (6-8 PM JST)
- • New York: 4-6 AM same day (EST)
- • London: 9-11 AM (GMT)
- • Sydney: 8-10 PM (AEDT)
Pro tip: For US teams, early morning Tokyo meetings (7-9 AM JST) catch end of US workday. This requires Japanese colleagues to come in early, so use sparingly for important sync-ups.
💡 Async-First Strategies
📹 Recorded Standups
Instead of live standups, use Loom or recorded video updates. Tokyo team records at their EOD, US team watches at their start of day.
📝 Detailed Documentation
Japanese teams often excel at documentation. Leverage this — use Notion, Confluence, or shared docs to reduce need for live meetings.
🔄 Handoff Workflow
Structure work so Tokyo team's end-of-day = US team's start-of-day handoff. Create a "follow the sun" development cycle.
Related Guides
Last updated: December 2024.