About 77 percent of Diet members support the introduction of daylight-saving time, according to results of a survey conducted by a center affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The Japan Productivity Center for Socio-economic Development conducted the questionnaire on all 721 Diet members in October and November. Of the 226 lawmakers who responded, 174 said they support turning the clocks ahead by an hour during the summer months, according to the results, which were released Thursday.

The figure was 10.4 percentage points higher than that garnered in a similar study conducted by the organization in 2002, center officials said.

Yoichi Kaya, leader of a group of academics promoting daylight-saving time at the center and director general of the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, believes the Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming, which is expected to take effect in February, is one reason for the rise in the figure.

"Carbon dioxide emissions from households and offices are increasing, and the Diet members may have felt that daylight-saving time can influence consumers" to save energy, Kaya said.

As another reason for the increase, center director Kazuo Motoishi suggested that more lawmakers have experienced daylight-saving time when they lived overseas and support the time change.