Eastern Standard Time

Eastern Standard Time, by Jeff Yang, Dina Han, Terry Hong. Trade paperback, ISBN: 039576341X

Book capitalizing on the trendiness of Asian pop culture, but doing a good job at the same time. The approach they've taken is to look at the influence of Asian (especially Japanese and Chinese) culture on "the West" (mostly North America). It's a series of short articles, with a great many photos, so it doesn't get too in-depth on much. For example, if you've read Manga! Manga! you know far more about manga than is covered in this book.

However, EST is a good jumping-off point. The best thing about it, I think, is that it covers far more than just Hong Kong movies and Japanese videogames--it covers food, clothing, etc. etc. Because of this, it will contain some surprises for even the most fanatic Western otaku, but will also be intriguing to those with a general interest in global pop culture. Again, it's not very academic (verging on smart-ass sometimes, as it's from the editors of A. Magazine), but it is very readable and (IIRC) has a good bibliography. Highly recommended; it also makes a good gift for many different kinds of geeks. Somewhat dated now, of course (being pre-Pokemon), but perhaps they'll release another edition someday.

Time zone running five hours behind GMT, except during Daylight Saving Time, when it is only four hours behind.

NOTE: Sometimes you will see the Daylight Saving time version of Eastern Standard time referred to as "Eastern Daylight Saving Time", to distinguish it from the non-Daylight Saving Time version.

Eastern Standard Time is also a valid timezone in Australia, running ten hours forward of GMT. All of the eastern states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania) operate in this timezone.

During Daylight Savings this timezone is renamed "Eastern Summer Time" and is eleven hours forward of GMT, except in Queensland which does not observe Daylight Savings.