Thank you for the June 10 "Here comes the sun" articles about early rising/sleeping. However, spare a thought for those of us here in northern Japan. I'm sitting here in Sapporo at 3:40 a.m., and the birds are already singing and I can see the end of my street clearly. I don't start work for another six hours. Sunrise here in mid-June is at 3:55 a.m.
My big hope for the Group of Eight summit in Toya, Hokkaido, next year is that members of the national government will come to understand the need for daylight saving time after spending a night in Hokkaido and enjoying all the wasted daylight seeping through their bedroom curtains.
About 70 countries have adopted DST. Japan keeps company with only China and India as major industrialized countries that haven't. The Hokkaido governor introduced a local summer time system a few years ago, but that's little more than flex-time for some participating companies.
Shinzo Abe -- if he survives as prime minister next year -- should take a look outside his hotel bedroom window. It's time to get serious about DST.