the Japanese School Chimes and Public address Systems and the Kremlin clock

An actual  typical setup of a Japanese school alert system we see in the anime and even here now, we are aware of the sound "dingdong dingdong.. dongding dongding.... "

Recently some schoolgirls were asking where the hell did that new sound the school uses for informing break or recess or dismissal came from?? well  since 2006, the Deped or the department of education has ordered public schools and its administrations around the country to shift to electronic chimes in  order to help disseminate proper time  around the school there are a few advantages of these because it is used in electronic systems.. it seems another Pinoy Pirated!.. lets admit it we just love to imitate other countries can't we...



For comrade milakovich this is the chime  you mean...



here you will listen from the video from lucky star during the first part, you will hear the Japanese School chime ringing in the background followed by another chiming sound, well I want you guys to hear what a typical japanese High school chime sounds like in the anime, and now the real thing:




The name of the tune is known as the westminister chime, also known as The Westminster Quarters, it is the most common name for a melody used by a set of clock bells to chime on each quarter hour. The number of chime sets matches the number of quarter hours that have passed. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, or the Cambridge Chimes..

A short history, of this according to a source: This chime is traditionally, though unsubstantiatedly, believed to be a set of variations on the four notes that make up the fifth and sixth measures of "I know that my redeemer liveth" from Handel's Messiah. It was written in 1793 for a new clock in St Mary the Great, the University Church in Cambridge.

The chime has been used by japanese schools of all levels from grade, junior to high schools especially public schools. Taiwan also uses this in their schools

The Sound is produced in what they a call public announcement room, it comes from a sound input device similar to the video above and the sound is amplified by a high wattage amplifier and is distributed around the halls and corridors of the school thru a network of room speakers, megaphones and even heavy duty transducers which is used for outdoor systems, the sound input device can also be used to announce important messages to the students all over the campus

But the japanese schools uses more tunes than us,

rather than the westminister chime they also use "joyful joyful we adore thee"

 here is another song "four seasons"




here's another one which they call in japan "夕焼け小焼け"





this one is called "lorlei"


it seems this chime is used by the school's administration to announce to the students its time for cleaning up their rooms after lunch, this tune usually rings around 1 in the afternoon..

there are so many tunes they can use with the help of electronic equipments, meaning most of this are melodies having 4th and 5th quarters, usually nursery and kiddie songs are in the criteria even their is "london bridge"  and some others are classical songs, especially the ones which signal noon breaks, clean up time, beginning, resuming and dismissal of classes..

 depending on the school's administration there are many tunes to play in the hours past, here's sample of a routing chime song thru noon up to the afternoon in a  junior high school somewhere in Ehime Prefecture

Its lunch time..  (image courtesy of danny choo)

First bell - "Lorelei"
This bell - "Westminster"
Music Ⅰ cleaning - "Country of Wind"

 Music Ⅱ cleaning - "bagpipe"
Music Ⅲ cleaning - "unknown song"
Music Ⅳ cleaning - "unknown song"

ohh.. gosh its classes again.... (image courtesy of danny choo)

School time table is:
12:00 13:30 (30) lunch ...
First bell at 25 minutes 13 ◎
2:30, 40 minutes (10) Cleaning ...
Classes start at 1:50
              ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

well so far its one of the few things that sets japanese schools apart from other countries, and together with the short schoolgirl skirts, no wonder this kind of culture are worlds apart from us....

well, the westminister chime is also used by city public address systems in Japan there are also other songs used to tell the time to the people, no wonder why Japanese people are so time conscious.. its born with them.. and they try to live with it..

These public address systems are used not only to tell time but also to help citizens be prepared for disasters as well, every moment or so these heavy duty megaphones and transducers announce regularly any messages from the local government..




This one is from the Saitama Prefecture which includes a weather forecast and it plays the tune "wild"



This one is a Public address system in roads over Ehime prefecture, it signals the time when children are about to cross the roads, it warns drivers to be cautious along the road as not to create an accident, it plays the song "edelweiss"



here's a vid where the Nagano City  tells its 6PM, it plays an old english song "Let's go back with a crow"



No wonder why Japanese people are that conscious in their daily living, if you want to see more of this vids about japanese chimes and public address systems just start searching in youtube, you'll be astounded by how the japanese use this systems and this old english tunes..

A little from russia this time from the spaskkya tower

meanwhile in Russia, the standard time is based upon the spaskkya tower, or the kremlin clock, it is located in the kremlin complex, the residence of the russian executive department the Kremlin clock dials have diameter of 6.12 m and are placed on all four sides of the Spasskaya tower. Height of Roman numerals - 0.72 m. Length of hour hand is 2.97 m, minute hand - 3.27 m. The total weight of clock and bells is 25 tons. Mechanism is powered with 3 weights weighing from 160 to 224 kilograms. Accuracy is achieved by the pendulum weighing 32 kg.

Transfer from winter to summer time is made manually. Battle of hours is carried out using a hammer, combined with the mechanism and Bell th. At noon and midnight, at 6 am and 6 pm marks the national anthem, 15 and 21 hours - the melody of the chorus "Glory" from Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar". Set the clock 2 times a day. The original clock is wound by hand, but with 1937 and their plant with the help of three electric motors.

meanwhile the kremlin clock plays the tune from the melody of the chorus "Glory"

now to the cute NOHS Schoolgirls who asked me about the tune that NOHS is now using; "gets niyo na.." of what we are trying to imitate..  well to my comrades and to the readers of the blog, hope you get to know more about the culture of Japan and Russia, and have a great day ahead of you! Ganbatte! Udachi! have great day ahead of you guys..