September 19 – October 4, 2026 · Aichi and Nagoya, Japan
The 20th Asian Games (Aichi-Nagoya 2026) run September 19 – October 4, 2026 in Japan. Opening Ceremony: September 19 at 8:00 PM JST (11:00 AM UTC · 7:00 AM EDT · 4:30 PM IST · 7:00 PM CST · 9:00 PM AEST). Japan Standard Time (JST) is UTC+9 with no daylight saving.
Use the full time zone converter for any specific event time. Remember: Japan Standard Time (JST) is UTC+9 with no daylight saving time changes year-round.
Aichi-Nagoya 2026 is the 20th edition of the Asian Games, the continent's largest multi-sport event. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) awarded the games to Aichi prefecture in Japan, with competition spread across Nagoya (Japan's 4th-largest city) and surrounding Aichi venues. Japan has previously hosted the Asian Games in Tokyo (1951, 1958) — 2026 marks the third time Japan hosts. The event typically features 40–50 sports, 10,000+ athletes from 45 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and is second only to the Olympic Games in scale.
Key sports include athletics, swimming, gymnastics, football, basketball, cricket, kabaddi, esports (a growing Asian Games discipline since 2022), and martial arts including judo, taekwondo, wrestling, boxing, and karate.
Japan Standard Time (JST) is UTC+9 year-round. Unlike most countries, Japan does not observe daylight saving time, which means JST is always 9 hours ahead of UTC, 9 hours ahead of London in winter (GMT) but only 8 hours during British Summer Time (BST). In September 2026 when the Asian Games run, London is still on BST (UTC+1), so the gap between London and Tokyo is 8 hours, not 9.
No — Japan does not observe DST. JST is fixed at UTC+9 year-round. During September, when the Asian Games run, the offset differences from major cities are: London (BST) +8h, Mumbai (IST) +3.5h, Beijing (CST) +1h, Sydney (AEST) +1h behind JST.
The Asian Games typically feature 40–50 sports (vs ~30 at the Olympics) and 10,000+ athletes from 45 Asian countries. While smaller in global profile, the Games are enormous in reach — Asia accounts for 60% of the world's population.