The Land of the Rising Sun rises much too early
Hours of productive daylight are largely wasted in Tokyo, where the summer dawn breaks before 5 am. It’s time to figure out a better system.
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THE sun pierces through the curtains. Birds are chirping. The thermometer nears 30 deg C. It is not yet 5 am.
It is a pretty typical scene during Tokyo’s long, muggy summers. Japan may be the land of the rising sun, but us residents often ask ourselves – couldn’t it rise (and set) a little later?
A few days after the summer solstice, the capital is currently enjoying its longest bright evenings – with the sun setting at just 7.02 pm. It is hard to find a major capital where summer daytimes end earlier than those in Tokyo. In London, it is still bright past 9 pm at this time of year; in Paris, it is nearer to 10 pm by the time darkness sets in.
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