Recently, a netizen made a post advocating for 'Taiwan's time zone change.' Taiwan currently uses a time zone 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+8), but the post argued for changing it to UTC+9, the same as Japan, which is an hour earlier. The poster argued, 'This would allow everyone to enjoy the direct benefit of having sunlight even after leaving work in winter.' Immediately, a debate with both pros and cons erupted online. Taiwanese media Mirror Media reported on this.

Taiwan uses the same UTC+8 time zone as China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Recently, a netizen posted on SNS, arguing, 'If Taiwan were to change to UTC+9, the same as Japan, winter sunset times could be delayed from 5 PM to 6 PM. This would reduce the feeling of despondency from lingering twilight when leaving work, but airline schedules, cross-border financial transactions, server systems, and more would all need comprehensive adjustment, incurring significant hidden costs.'

Once this post was published, netizens quickly commented that the essence of the problem was not there. Comments included: 'Taiwan is originally UTC+8, and what should be changed is the length of working hours. Working from 9 AM to 6 PM is too long, which is why people don't get sunlight when they leave work and feel despondent,' and 'It would be better to advocate for shorter working hours. Those who want to work more can do overtime themselves.' It was also pointed out that Taiwan's average working hours rank fourth globally. Furthermore, some users argued that even if one gains an hour of sunlight when leaving work, they would only spend an extra hour in darkness upon waking.

On the other hand, there were also people who supported the time zone change. Opinions included: 'I strongly support it. I won't have to worry about time differences at all when I go to Japan in the future,' 'The perspective of having sunlight would be very important,' and 'Anyone who has traveled to Singapore knows that it's still bright at 7 PM, so there's still light for shopping and taking photos. It's truly the best.' Considering the practical aspects, some also proposed, 'In reality, the government just needs to promote flexible working hours through an administrative order and change working hours from 9 AM to 6 PM to 8 AM to 5 PM. There's no need to go to the trouble of changing the time zone.' (Translation/Editing: Hayato Kisaragi)