Category Archives: 310b Clock 時計 とけい

How to read a Japanese clock.


The Japanese clock works exactly the same as any other western clock, so the only thing that needs to be learnt is how to pronounce the words. 













The reason why 4 and 9 are red is because these times have a slightly different pronunciation from what you would have expected.

















The first bit is actually quite straight forward. It is a direct translation into Japanese. One has the choice to write the word in numbers with hiragana, or with kanji and hiragana. These days one can even find clocks that have the hour digits in kanji, just like the clock below. It’s a gimmick.




The second part of the clock reading skill is the minutes reading. At this stage we have only added the five-minute lots.











The only other mention would have to be that there is no word for quarter of an hour, only the word for ’15 minutes’. One could also describe the quarter of an hour time span before the whole hour as ‘so many minutes before’ the whole hour – just like in English. Don’t forget the word まえ mae meaning before








Here are all the clock times in five-minute lots:




































310 Clocks 時計 とけい


いちふん
ichiji-gofun


いち よんじゅうごふん
ichiji-jūgofun



いち ごじゅっぷん
ichiji-gojuppun


いち ごじゅうごふん
ichiji-gojūgofun


さん はん
sanji-han


よんじゅっぷん
niji-yonjuppun


さん にじゅっぷん まえ
sanji-nijuppunmae


ごじゅっぷん
niji-gojuppun


じゅうごふん
yoji-jūgofun


さんじゅうごふん
yoji-sanjūgofun


ごじゅっぷん
yoji-gojuppun


ろく さんじゅうごふん
rokuji-sanjūgofun


はち
hachiji

The saddest clock in Japan – the Hiroshima Watch

はち じゅうごふん
hachiji-jūgofun



はち にじゅっぷん
hachiji-nijuppun


はち はん
hachiji-han


はち よんじゅうごふん
hachiji-yonjūgofun


よんじゅっぷん
kuji-yonjuppun


じゅう きゅうふん
jūji-kyūfun

じゅう じゅっぷん
jūji-juppun



じゅう じゅうはちふん
jūjijūhachifun




じゅういち さんじゅうごふん
jūichiji-sanjūgofun


じゅういち よんじゅうごふん
jūichiji-yonjūgofun



じゅういち ごじゅうごふん
jūichiji-gojūgofun


じゅうに
jūniji


じゅうに にじゅっぷん
jūniji-nijuppun
 


じゅうに にじゅうごふん
jūniji-nijūgofun




じゅうに よんじゅっぷん
jūniji-yonjuppun

 

いち にじゅっぷんまえ
ichiji-nijuppunmae


じゅうごふん
niji-jūgofun




にじゅうごふん
niji-ni jūgofun 


ろく ごじゅうごふん
rokuji-gojūgofun



kuji


じゅうごふん
kuji-jūgofun