The issue of daylight-saving time is back in the news.
This time it was in reference to the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges a number of countries, Japan included, to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases. Daylight-saving time (DST) was mentioned as one of several proposals under something called the "Kyoto Objective Achievement Plan," aimed at getting Japan to achieve its objectives under the protocol.
In case you're unfamiliar with the idea, DST, or summer time as its called in Europe, involves setting the clock forward by an hour around the start of spring and then putting it back at the beginning of autumn. The result is that we have an extra hour of sunlight during our waking hours during those months, thereby lowering our reliance on artificial light.