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Daylight savings in Japan?


FOR OVER A DECADE, Tokyo resident Mike King has sought to convince the Japanese government to introduce daylight savings time in Japan. Over the past three years he has resorted to directly appealing to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi--yet the government has failed to respond.

"I just hope to call attention to how skewed skewed

curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean.

skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data
 the summer daylight hours are relative to the average Japanese citizen's schedule--and compared to the rest of the world," says King. "I would love to gain a precious extra hour of light in the summer evenings for barbecues and other outdoor activities, as well as make my hot and crowded morning commute a bit cooler and more bearable bear·a·ble  
adj.
That can be endured: bearable pain; a bearable schedule.



bear
."

This year, for the first time ever, Mike has seen a response to his petitions. A lawmakers' group on the issue, initiated by former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma Takeo Hiranuma (平沼 赳夫 Hiranuma Takeo, born 3 August 1939 in Shinjuku, Tokyo) is a Japanese politician. Basic Biography
Takeo Hiranuma was adopted by his grandfather's younger brother, Kiichiro Hiranuma, after Takeo's father was killed
, was slated for formation in July, according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 The Daily Yomiuri.

Daylight savings time is used in over 70 countries--essentially, in every developed nation other than Japan, in spite of the Japanese being dependent on imports for almost all of their energy.

Daylight savings time was introduced in Japan by the Occupation authorities in 1948, but was later abandoned by the Japanese government, who cited confusion created by shifting clocks by one hour each spring and fall.

According to John Dower's prize-winning 1999 study of the US occupation, Embracing Defeat, daylight savings time, called sanma taimu, was opposed on the grounds that it simply extended the difficulty of "daily" life. Dower dower, that portion of a deceased husband's real property that a widow is legally entitled to use during her lifetime to support herself and their children. A wife may claim the dower if her husband dies without a will or if she dissents from the will.  describes a condition of exhaustion and despondency de·spon·den·cy  
n.
Depression of spirits from loss of hope, confidence, or courage; dejection.

Noun 1. despondency - feeling downcast and disheartened and hopeless
despondence, disconsolateness, heartsickness
 in Japan immediately after the war, causing people to prefer an earlier darkening dark·en  
v. dark·ened, dark·en·ing, dark·ens

v.tr.
1.
a. To make dark or darker.

b. To give a darker hue to.

2. To fill with sadness; make gloomy.

3.
 so they could escape into sleep or drink.

In today's prosperous and seemingly happier Japan, the pain of enduring a longer day is not a rationale for opposing daylight savings time. According to the government's House of Councillors, the impetus for the current legislation to institute daylight savings time is to combat global warming--not to improve on the lifestyle matters that have motivated King.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Japan Inc. Communications
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2004, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Japan Inc.
Date:Sep 1, 2004
Words:337
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