The Nittere Ohdokei Clock in Tokyo

On our way to the train station from the gardens, we stopped to have a look at this weird clock! On the face of the Nippon TV Tower it was designed by famous ( in Japan anyway) anime maker, Hayao Miyazaki. and sculpted by Shachimaru Kunio. This is his Nittere Ohdokei clock designed to represent his famous movie masterpiece, Howl’s Moving Castle, an animated Japanese fantasy film.

The largest animated clock in the world…this incredible creation is  32 feet high by 59 feet wide and weighs a massive 28 tons. It  is certainly as fantastical as you could see anywhere with a series of windows with obviously characters from the movie, doing various activities. Like a cuckoo clock… at set times everything swings into action and you have all these little vignettes doing different things. There is so much detail you can spend some time looking at all the features….really fascinating.

The animated show when it all springs to life starts 3 minutes and 45 seconds before each hour.
The Times Are –
Monday to Friday: 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 20:00
Saturday and Sunday: 10:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 20:00

After leaving the clock as we headed for the station,  we passed  an area where elderly men were playing a board game with tiles rather like slim mahjong pieces, second hand books filled temporary canvas stalls and an old steam train rested in colourful gardens creating an interesting feature. Tokyo is a city with a split personality. You have  interesting, very modern glass monoliths towering above and unique human interest areas like these indispersed between them.