Alarm Clocks

Today I'm going to introduce you funny alarm clocks. I'm sure everybody depends on them every day and manage to come to school. But I also know that some of you can't get up early once in a while.... What do you say to depends on these clocks below?


dumbbell alarm clock
...Once this clock starts ringing, it keeps ringing until you finish bringing up and down for thirty times.

throwing clock
...This clock's feature is how to stop it: throw. Is there anybody who is sullen in the morning?

savings bank clock
...In order to stop this clock, you have to put money in this clock. When it is filled up, the melody tells you that.

Alarm-shredder
...Before you go to bed, you have to set a bill in this clock. If you don't get up while it tells you that it's time to get up, the bill will be....

running-away clock
...Once it starts ringing, it also starts to running away. You have to catch up it and stop ringing! (See the link and video.)
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/auc-qualite/94063/



There really are funny alarm clocks. I wonder how they come up with these ideas..... I think they also have difficulty in the morning :)

Clock tower

This article's theme is clock tower.

What's clock tower?

---A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more (often four) clock faces. (Wikipedia)

Today, I'm going to introduce you both domestic and foreign ones below.

*Domestic*

Sapporo clock tower (see the lower picture)

---When Japanese people heard a word "clock tower", most of them will think about this clock tower, I think. It's very famous here. This clock tower is one of the most oldest one in Japan.

Yasuda auditorium (see the lower picture)
---This is placed in the University of Tokyo, the most prestigious university in Japan. This clock tower is regarded as a symbol of this university, so, many cram schools use this picture with its students for advertisements.

NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building
---This is placed in Shibuya, Tokyo and is  the biggest Tower clock in the world! It's fifteen meters across...!


*Foreign*
Big Ben　(see the lower picture)
---This is placed in London. It's 96.3 meters high and the clock is placed at 55 meters high above the ground. The melody of its chime is very familiar to Japanese because the melody of most of Japanese schools' is similar to it.

The big three clock tower in the world is said to be Big Ben (London), Rajabai Tower (India), and Kremlin towers (Russia). Sad to say, I searched on the Internet but couldn't get much more information... I'm afraid but I will finish writing today's article.

era name / gengo

In this article, I'm going to write about era name; called gengo or nengo in Japanese.


Today, it's January 17th 2012, if we describe it with the Christian Era. But it also could be described as January 17th Heisei 24, with the name of era: gengo or nengo. The first gengo in Japan was Taika, and was used for about five years since 645 A.D.


Then, let's think about the origin of nengo. Originally, it was born in ancient China. In those days, the emperor's power and authority were enormous there. So, his domination was supposed to be not only over space (or territory) but also over time. Yes, this is an incredible story, but it is a fact. To show that he is dominating time, the emperor named the era, made calendar, and give it to every king who obeyed him. The concept of nengo is supported by such a magnificent thought in ancient China.


As the time passes, the thought was imported into Japan. The emperor proposed it to use his calendar, but Japan did not; in order not to admit that it is a dependency of China. So, Japan made its own era name, the first one was Taika. And the concept has been inherited to today's Japan.


Today, my article is little bit strayed from this blog's theme "clock / watch". Please take it like a coffee break :D

Why The Hands Are Right-handed

The hands are right-handed.----We take this fact for granted. But it is always a good thing to be skeptical about what is generally accepted. Today, I am going to explain why the hands are made like that.

To begin with, we need to think about what was the first clock. The answer is, as I mentioned in the first article, sundial. Its shadow shows how long time has passed. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so, the shadow moves from west to east. As we can see in videos, the shadow moves from left to right.

This is why the hands are right handed.

But wait a minute. Imagine if we are in the southern hemisphere. The shadow must moves from east to west. So, this explanation is revealed not to be universal. Why all the clocks around the world are made like right-handed?

The answer is, because the first clock ---sundial--- was made in Egypt, which locates in the northern hemisphere. All the clocks followed the first clock.

So, if students in the southern hemisphere made a sundial in a science class, they would be surprised because it shows counter clock wise motion.

Come to think of counter clock wise motion, such clocks also exist in the world. The clock is, as I mentioned in the last article, barber clock.