What Is That ‘5pm Chime’?

Note: Update at the bottom.

One thing that has been extremely clear since we got here is that Japan and its people take rules and procedures very seriously. Whether it is on the simple things like not crossing the road at a red light (even when the road are empty) to lining up in a single file when boarding the subway.

One of the first things I noticed since moving here was a chime that would go off day, around mid-afternoon/early evening time. As I began to pay more attention to the timing of the chime, it turns out that it was being played every day at exactly 5PM and hence it is known as the goji no chaimu (the 5PM chime) but the proper term is more of a mouthful: shichoson bosai gyosei musen hoso (local government disaster administration wireless broadcast).

The chime does serve multiple purposes. Primarily, it is the local government’s daily check of the emergency broadcast system to alert its citizens of dangers such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and any other major accidents. The secondary purpose, according to The Japan Times, is “that as long as there’s going to be a daily test, it may as well be timed so it serves some other purpose, and reminding kids to head home before dark is a popular one. In many localities the evening broadcast is timed to 5 p.m. in the winter months and 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. as the days get longer.”

Fortunately, they are using a relatively friendly tune that we get to hear every day instead of some ominous, impending colossal doom.

You can listen to a sample of one the broadcast chime/test below:

Update: Twitter follower @sjplep sent me a link which states that it is a poem written in 1919 by Nakamura Ukou, and later song-ified in 1923 by Kusakawa Shin. Now it’s played as a signal that its time for schoolchildren to head home.

A loose English translation:
When the sun sets and it gets dark
And the bell from the mountain temple rings
Let’s hold hands and go home
Let’s go home together with the crows

After the children have returned home
Shines the big round moon
When the little birds are dreaming
Golden stars twinkle in the sky

Weekend Trip To Osaka

Last weekend, I took a weekend trip outwest to the city of Osaka — which
many compare to be quite the opposite of Tokyo. We spent most of Saturday traveling and sight-seeing while Sunday was spent primarily at Universal Studios Japan (USJ). There are some pictures included in this post but the vast majority are uploaded to the gallery page here.

Flying domestically within Japan for the first time was a very smooth albeit a different experience. The lack of extreme (or any) form of ID checking was a bit unnerving but it did make for quick boarding onto the airplane for both of our flights. The Japanese are a very trusting people and can be a bit of sticklers for following procedures from forming an orderly line for everything to not crossing the street when the traffic light is red. It is a far cry from New York and was definitely an adjustment.

During the flight, the locals clearly hold Mount Fuji in high regard as the flight crew made an announcement as we were flying over Mount Fuji and got everyone to look out our windows to a magnificent view. Truly a sight to see and I can’t wait to climb that come summer time! Anyone wanna join me?

Upon landing at Kensai International Airport, my eyes lit up as one of the first things you see is a Pokemon Store! Those who know me well know that played a big role in my childhood so naturally I had to go there and get myself a souvenir.

I still need to write a post on public transportation here and will go into more details about this later but in March 2013, nearly all of the major public transportation systems became compatible with each other giving travelers from across the country a much simpler way to moving around. That certainly made our lives easier as we were able to move around the city without needing to get new metro cards.

The places that I visited included the Osaka Castle, the Osaka Museum of History as well as the Umeda Sky Building.

The Osaka Castle Museum offers a detailed history and historical artifacts over the course of 7 floors. There are nearly 10,000 artifacts in the building that vividly depict a very war-torn era for Japan. It includes “armor and weapons such as swords, folding screens illustrating the wars and battles, gorgeous furnishings and goods in makie style lacquer, and portraits and letters written by Hideyoshi Toyotomi and other war lords” from that time period. There is also a great display of miniature figures on the 5th floor show that depicts the Summer War of Osaka (1615).

The mission statement of the Osaka Museum of History which says that “Artifacts and remains gain meaning through its relationship with people. We aim to put them in context with the society and culture of the past, which would help viewers find clues for understanding the present and the future” really holds true to its meaning as you travel through the museum. The museum gallery is broken up into 4 floors that breaks up the different ‘Ages’ of Osaka from Naniwa Palace (~7th Century) to Hongan-ji Temple (15th Century) and finishes up with a more modern Osaka.

The total cost for visiting the two previously mentioned museums is only ¥900 ($7.50 USD) if you purchase tickets for both places together which is a pretty good deal for what you get to see. They are located pretty close to each other and you even get a good panoramic view from the top of each building.

While those two places were a nice plus, the main ‘attraction’ I wanted to see while visiting Osaka was the Umeda Sky Building. At 173 meters high, the building has a unique form where two skyscrapers are joined at their top floors through a huge atrium and a sky walk that gives visitors a breath of fresh air and a 360 degree panoramic view of the city. A panoramic picture I took from the sky deck can be found in the Japan gallery page mentioned at the top of the post.

That covers most of what we did on Saturday and then on Sunday, our trip led us to Universal Studios Japan.

Initially, just buying the tickets to this place took us much longer than I had expected. The English version of their website is for ‘informational’ purposes only so you need to purchase through the Japanese site. That was not a lot of fun. We did figure out how to buy our tickets and Fast Pass but it must have taken nearly an hour and brought on unnecessary stress before the trip even began.

It rained on and off for most of the day we were there but I think that helped keep some of the crowd at home. It was not as busy as I expected it to be and there were and the setup was pretty similar to the one back in Orlando. The main difference being that almost everything was spoken in Japanese — including the commentary during most of the rides.

I should mention that the Harry Potter area of the park was nightmare — people wise. There were waiting lines that spanned over 200 minutes meaning people who didn’t have a Fast Pass spent nearly 4 hours for a ride that lasts last than 10 minutes. That is some dedication.

There were additional attractions like Spider Man, Terminator, and Jurassic Park which provided a different atmosphere but lets face it, I was there mainly for Harry Potter. Between the ride through Hogwarts Castle, Ollivanders Wand show, the Acapella group, and Butterbeer — it was well worth it.

Before I finish, I just want to say that I don’t know where we would be without the good people who created Google Maps walking directions. There were times on this trip (and back in Tokyo) where Google Maps has given us walking directions through some of the most random narrow streets and back alleys to get us to and from our housing and around the city — I still don’t understand how Google knows that those pathways even exist. Unbelievable.