Short answers, pulled from the story.
Japan Standard Time is UTC+09:00, meaning it runs 9 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. This offset has been fixed since the 1st of January 1888, when Ordinance 51 designated the 135th degree of east longitude as Japan's standard meridian.
Japan does not observe daylight saving time. The country briefly followed DST from 1948 to 1951 under the Allied occupation, but the Japanese government abolished it in 1952, three weeks before the occupation ended. DST has not been implemented nationwide since.
Japan Standard Time took effect on the 1st of January 1888, following Ordinance 51 issued on the 13th of July 1886. The ordinance set the 135th degree of east longitude as the national standard meridian.
Akashi, in Hyogo Prefecture, sits precisely on the 135th degree of east longitude, which is Japan's standard meridian. The city became known as Toki no machi, meaning Town of Time, as a result.
The Japanese government, given expanded powers as the Allied occupation neared its end, abolished daylight saving time in 1952 and the occupation authorities did not interfere. A 2007 simulation also found that DST would increase residential energy use in Osaka by 0.13 percent, with cooling costs outweighing lighting savings.
On the 22nd of May 2013, Tokyo governor Naoki Inose proposed advancing Japan Standard Time by two hours to UTC+11. The aim was to make the Tokyo stock market the first major exchange to open each day. The Japanese government agreed to consider the proposal, but no specific action has followed in more than ten years.