Can people in Japan watch the sunset while people in the United States watch the sunrise?

Question

I didn't sleep tonight at all, and as I watched the sunrise outside my window I realized that an entire day had passed for everyone else in the world while I sat in my bedroom, hunched over a laptop and doing homework. And, as I watched the sunrise, likely alongside a million and a half early birds or severe night owls, I wondered if there were people across the oceans watching the very same sun I was looking at dip below the horizon.

Online research wasn't very lucrative. I looked up sunrise and sunset times for various locations across the globe but soon came to the realization that sleep deprivation was scrambling my brain, and the questions I plugged into google weren't very forthcoming. I'm hoping someone here can help me out?

If it's true, then I think that it's a very nice thing. Despite all the differences in the world, good and bad, we can all be connected by the giant flaming ball of gas hovering ninety-three million miles away which, if we were placed any closer to, would apathetically burn us all to a crisp.

? · Accepted Answer

Yes.  The US east coast is about the right distance around the world for this.  Or other parts depending on the time of year.  It's always sunrise or sunset somewhere.  Or any other time of day, for that matter.  Pick any time you like - it IS that time somewhere.

For the really fun version of this, the tiny Pacific nation of Kiribati has extended its time zones so that the easternmost part is in GMT+14 and it can say it gets New Year first.  Obviously this is sensible so the whole country has the same day at the same time despite being across the International Date Line.  But it means they've already had New Year's Day sunset before California has done whatever New Year celebrations they're having the day before,  And as for Hawaii, they're on the same time zone as east Kiribati but exactly one day behind.

All of which is why we need the Date Line.  If it isn't there, and there isn't the rule that you lose or gain a day when you cross it, the whole system falls apart.  On Michael Palin's "Around the World in 80 Days", he took a container ship from Japan to California and there came the announcement in the middle of the trip "You are reminded that it will be Monday again tomorrow".  It HAS to be or you'll be a day out on arrival.  If you know the original book by Jules Verne, you know that this is why Phileas Fogg thought he'd lost his bet that he could do the trip in 80 days but in fact he hadn't - he forgot about the Date Line.

For more poetic thoughts, look up the hymn "The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended".

ReductioAdAstronomicus · Answer

Yes indeed,
Depending on exactly where you are, people in Japan could be watching the sunset as you watch it rise.

Bill-M · Answer

YES.   While the Sun is Setting as viewed in Japan it would be close to rising in New York.
6:00 pm Saturday, in Tokyo, Japan is5:00 am Saturday, in New York, NY, USA

? · Answer

The Sun will shine on you, take a Chill pill

cosmo · Answer

Yes.

Tom S · Answer

Well, the Sun is always rising somewhere and setting somewhere.  To see where, see link.

billrussell42 · Answer

sunset in Tokyo is 6:11 PM today. 
Canada Atlantic time zone, it is 6:11, sunrise is 6:38AM Halifax
in US eastern time zone, it is 5:11 AM, sunrise is 6:11 AM (Boston)
central, 4:11 AM
mountain, 3:11 AM
west, 2:11 AM, sunrise LA is 6:28 AM

you are out of luck, but you may find a place in Nova Scotia
eg, sunrise cape breton is 6:25 , close

however, sunsets vary across Japan, with Fukuoka in the west at 6:45 am, which means Halifax could match someplace in Japan.

most eastern location in US is Lubec ME, with sunrise of 5:50 AM

corrected

Stanley · Answer

Joshua 10
12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
    and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still,
    and the moon stopped,
    till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,

as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

Psalm 19

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge.

3They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

4Yet their voice b goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

5It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

6It rises at one end of the heavens

and makes its circuit to the other;

nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Anonymous · Answer

Which people in the US?  Unlike Japan, the US covers a lot of times zones from GMT -3 for the East coast to Hawaii at GMT - 10 (we'll ignore DST for the East coast).  Japan is GMT + 9.
 
Say sunrise in Japan is 6:00 am.  In Hawaii, it's 7 pm (of the previous day) which is likely close to sunset but you would have to look it up.  On the East coast, it's midnight.  Hopefully I've done the math right.

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Can people in Japan watch the sunset while people in the United States watch the sunrise?

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