26:30 AM…?

Time on Japanese clocks

In Japanese, AM is “go-zen”(午前)
PM is “go-go”(午後)

6:00 am →午前 6:00/６時 (gozen roku ji)
9:00 pm →午後 9:00/９時 (gogo ku ji)

“Ji” means time.

However, The most common way of expressing it is different.
Japanese use 24-hour system.

This system designates the start of the day as 0 and the end as 24.

11:00 am → 11:00
1:00 pm → 13:00
3:00 pm → 15:00

Also, Japanese people pronounce 13:00 as 1時(ichi ji) or 13時(juu san ji) and
15:00 as ３時(san ji) or 15時(juu go ji).
Like this.


Then, what is 26:30 AM?

This is an expression used for activities that span across dates.

For example, if you worked from 10:00 AM until 2:30 AM the next day at the office, the company system might record it as working from 10:00 AM until 26:30.

Here are a few examples:

・”According to company records, I apparently worked from 21:00 to 25:00.”

・The new anime will air after the news, at 24:15 AM on the same day.
(Even when the date changes, it may be referred to as the same day.)

・Today’s radio show is a special edition. Broadcast from 23:45 PM to 25:20 AM.