General

Time

Time (時間) is a fundamental concept for recognizing events and changes. As a tag, it is often used to indicate the passage of time.

Overview

Time (時間, jikan) is used in the following sense:

The interval between one time and another time (hour - interval) and its length.
Time, that is, a point in the flow of time.
A philosophical concept. Together with space, it is the most basic and fundamental form of perception or the establishment of the world of objects, and is conceived of as the frame within which all events take place.

Some dictionaries consider the use of the word time in the sense of time to be an everyday or slang term.

Time in the sense of, i.e., the time between times and its length, is a concept used in phrases such as "this job takes time" or "I will kill time in a coffee shop until the mean time". Expressions of time in the sense of length in Japanese and English include "five hours," "two days," and "four months" for example.

Time, or time in the sense of, is a particular instant in time. In other words, it is a point (point in time) in the flow of time. Examples of numerical expressions for this include five o'clock, the second day, April, etc.

Time in the sense of , or time as a philosophical concept, is first of all positioned as the most basic and fundamental form for the establishment of human cognition.

This is the meaning that has been used up to the present based on Kant and others, and is used on a daily basis. Generally, people tend to regard time in this sense as a "flow" in their daily lives. For example, "time" is expressed as "the continuous flow from the past to the future" or "the continuous flow from the past to the present to the future". There are two views of time: one is that it flows from the past to the future, and the other is that it flows from the future to the past.

However, "time" refers to the passage of time or the flow of time, so "what time" is less likely to be misunderstood as time.