Electricity
The Japanese electric current is 100V AC, which is found almost nowhere else in the world. To make it more confusing, Tokyo and eastern Japan are on 50Hz, and western Japan (including Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka) is on 60Hz. Most North American electrical items, designed to run on 117V, will work reasonably well on the Japanese current. Japanese plugs are flat two pin, identical to North American plugs, however you’ll need a transformer to safely use any foreign appliances.

Time Zones
All of Japan is on the same time zone and there is no daylight savings. Japan is fourteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST) in the US and nine hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in Britain. Accordingly, when it is noon in Japan, it is 7pm the previous day in San Francisco 10pm in New York, 3am in London, 11am in Hong Kong, and 1pm in Sydney.

Measurements
Japan uses the international metric system except when measuring the size of rooms. In this case, the measurement is made by how many tatami mats or 'jo' fit into the space. If you’re not confused already, a tatami mat in Tokyo (1.76m by .88m) is smaller than a tatami mat in Kyoto (1.91m by .96m).

Conversions

FROM  - TO	MULTIPLY BY
Inches - Centimeters	2.54
Centimeters - Inches	0.3937
Feet - Meters	0.3048
Meters - Feet	3.2810
Yards - Meters	0.9144
Meters - Yards	1.0940
Miles - Kilometers	1.6090
Kilometers - Miles	0.6214
Acres - Hectares	0.4047
Hectares - Acres	2.4710
Gallons - Liters	4.5460
Liters - Gallons	0.2200
Ounces - Grams	28.35
Grams - Ounces	0.0353
Pounds - Grams	453.6
Grams - Pounds	0.0022
Pounds - Kilograms	0.4536
Kilograms - Pounds	2.205
Tons - Tonnes	1.0160
Tonnes - Tons	0.9842