Sunset
It’s been about a week since I returned from Tokyo. School’s back in full-swing after two months of being sealed in an alternate dimension. This is going to be one busy year…
The one thing that really feels different about being back in Singapore, other than climate, is the sunset. The picture above was taken in Tokyo at 3pm in the afternoon. For late-waking bums like yours truly, the winter days in Tokyo were over before they even began. Daytime seemed to last only five hours, from 11am (setting-out time) to 4pm (sunset).
It’s now 7.30pm in Singapore and the sun is still faintly visible in the horizon outside my window. The difference is especially jarring because Singapore’s official time zone is one hour ahead of its actual geographical location, making the sunset later than it should be.
It’s quite interesting what the international time zone system has done to some of our perceptions of time. Anyway, this has been a pointless post.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Nah, it’s good to post something different from what you’d normally post for a change. The fact that “Singapore’s official time zone is one hour ahead of its actual geographical location” is quite interesting; makes me learn something new today.
Sun sets quite early here in England (if there ever is a Sun out there), so it’s better not to get up late or else you’re back in the dark again. Besides why am I still displaying an EU flag next to my name instead of a Union Jack one?
Oh yes, I’ve blogrolled you on my never-frequently-updated blog.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Keen observation. For someone who wakes up really late ( work starts around 12-1pm at Sunrise ), my days here are fantastically short; I feel like a vampire on most days.
The quality of light here in Tokyo is also somewhat different from Singapore – not as harsh and glaring, which is why many Japanese films have a distinct look to them.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Not only are winter days short. The last time I went to Japan in summer, the whole place was already dark by 5pm. Daylight for summer begins early though. It was all bright and sunny by 5am.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Let’s go queue in the winter winds again.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Since it’s daylight savings in Australia, the sun is still setting at 8pm.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Like Q, I’m tempted to point out that the sunset – nay, the very sun itself – is rather rare where I am.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
The sun at my place is quirkier, It beats down on you all morning till noon and then goes and hides behind clouds for the rest of the day. Sometimes though it decides to do the opposite and I get one of those sunsets that people keep harping about.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
hey, been looking at ur blog for some time and stilll didnt manage to know which school you’re from :P.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Have a pity for the people living in the western tip of China. Once they cross the border from there to Kazakhstan (land of Borat), they’ll have to turn their watches 2 hours back.
Cross into Nepal 2 hours 15 minutes;
South into India 2 and a half hours;
Into Pakistan it’s 3 hours;
And finally when crossing the Chinese-Afghan border, people will have to shift their watches for a whopping 3 and a half hours. The only place in the planet where people might experience “jet-lag” just by walking.
It used to be just East Malaysia that’s on GMT+8 while West Malaysia including Singapore were on various wacky time differences until they settled for the unique timezone of GMT+7.30. It wasn’t until 1982 when both settled for GMT+8.00, mostly for economic/trade and political reasons.
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/teaching/timezone.html
January 10th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Your biological clock is set to Japan time. :p
January 11th, 2008 at 1:43 am
When I first came to Tokyo back in late Spring 2006, I never believed that the sunrise/sunsets can be very early. Imagine: at 3:30 am, dawn might have just started, and it takes about 1+ hour to get the sunrise. And yes, sunsets are usually around 5:45 pm.
I’ve been to Vietnam and the Middle East, and to be honest, I can’t honestly think why Singapore chose to torture its citizens by not allowing a full sunrise to shine on them for work. Psychological factors, I’d say.
Ah, welcome to 1984.
January 11th, 2008 at 8:13 am
On the other hand, it’s just as jarring in the summertime. I remember that I used to wake up and go outside sometimes at 4 in the morning and it would already be light out.
Basically, the opposite of the winter conditions where the day only lasts like 6 hours – in the summer the night only lasts around 6 hours. :)
Of course, it’s nearly the same here in California, since we’re at a similar latitude. For some reason it always surprised me more when I was living in Japan, though. I wonder why.
January 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
There was an article I read somewhere that mentions the fact that Singapore/West malaysia is actually running on double daylight saving vs the rest of the region. That some sort of explains why we are just one hour behind Tokyo despite the obvious gap…
January 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Pardon me, the article u linked to was what I was referring to
January 11th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
When I was in Japan a week or so back, I used to wake up at about 10 and set out then, with the exception of the last day in which I work up at 5 am to pull a sola reference and stand in the chilling winds with nothing but a thin jacket to keep me warm while waiting for the sunrise. I agree, timezones really make things complicated. Having to get used to having the sun set at 4 or 5 pm and then returning to Singapore jarred my sense of time.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
YOU ARE IN JAY TWOOO. OFFICIAL MUGGING YEAR FOR A LEVELS RJC BOY. or did u retain. lol
January 11th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
*shrugs* for the temperate countries, it’s more of a common thing like.. ” it gets dark early in winter, and there are longer evenings in spring/summer..” well, in our case, it does get a darker a little earlier during the nov-december period. not like we’d notice much, with all the rain these two months bring. Well, good luck in the year ahead, and i look forward to more dorama and reviews on your preferred series’, Darkmirage.
Hatori
January 12th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Have fun this year kid. I took my ‘A’s last year and I must admit, it was really tough concentrating with Claymore and Hayate No Gotoku around.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hello I am actually commenting on your site!
It’s unnatural to wake up before sunrise and get to school only to see it rise sometime before assembly. Our dear government is quite sick.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:10 am
Daylight from 1am (setting-out time) to 4pm? That means for a night owl like me I won’t be even seeing the sun at all, unlike Singapore!! o.o I can’t imagine waking up at 4pm and wondering why it’s dark again! But it’s good for vampires if they ever exist.