Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday ordered his ruling party to study whether to introduce daylight saving time for the Olympic Games in 2020 as a way to deal with Japan's intense summer heat.

Following a meeting with Abe, Yoshiro Mori, head of the organizing committee for the games, revealed that the prime minister wants the Liberal Democratic Party to start gathering opinions, given that the public and the business community are divided over the idea of moving clocks forward.

Mori quoted Abe as saying that the government and the LDP have to "carefully determine" whether there is a serious need for the new time system, as it would have a huge impact on people's lives.