I’ve had many requests to continue my “shopping mistakes” series since the last posting I made, but until now I had no new material. Apparently, both Kyle and I have been pretty good about buying what we expect… or maybe we’re just not being adventurous enough.
My latest shopping mistake actually occurred when I was in San Francisco. I had a list of things to buy that we either had not found here in Japan, or things we wanted to have English labels. One of the items on my list was a cheap electronic alarm clock… the kind with glowing red numbers so we could see what time it was in the middle of the night. We think they should exist here in Japan, but we just haven’t seen any in a store.
I found a great, very cheap one at the Walgreen’s next to my hotel. I even tested the alarm feature before I left San Francisco and it worked fine.
Kyle set it up when I came home yesterday afternoon. At dinnertime, I teased Kyle for not setting it for the right time and I fixed it. But then when I went to bed, I discovered that the time was wrong again… and realization dawned on me.
Cheap alarm clocks use the electrical current to keep track of time. In the US, the electrical current in the power lines is transmitted as 120 volts at a 60-hertz frequency. The mathematics of time keeping is pretty simple— for the US, 1 second equals 60 oscillations of the electrical current. BUT… where we live in Japan is different. In Sapporo, the electrical current in the power lines is transmitted as 100 volts at a 50-hertz frequency. This means that only 50 oscillations of the electrical current occur every second here. Since my clock is looking for 60 oscillations before it ticks the second hand, my new clock is too slow. It loses 10 minutes every hour. In other words, it’s pretty much useless. If all this is interesting to you, check out this cool article on electrical systems around the world.
And in case you’re wondering about other aspects of electricity here:
1) We use the same plugs as in the US. Although, you generally don’t find 3-prong plugs; 2-prong or 2-prong with a grounding wire are much more common.
2) The difference between 120 volts in the US and 100 volts in Sapporo is not that big of a deal. Electronic devices take longer to charge, but they still work fine.
3) The southwest half of Japan has a different electrical system. They use 100 volts at a 60-hertz frequency, still with the same plug as the US… so if we lived in the southern part of Japan, I wouldn’t be writing this blog.
Until next time,
-Bre (and Kyle)
Maybe nobody sells that kind of alarm clock in Japan because it wouldn't work properly in all parts of the country.
ReplyDeleteKyle's grandfather is going to enjoy this one, and probably even the attached article. This should keep him happy next time we have dinner!
ReplyDeletethanks so much, Bre, for making an electrical shopping mistake! Make some more!!!
sending love,
Karen
fascinating! I had no idea!
ReplyDeleteWho woulda thunk (not me...).
ReplyDeleteWas it Meg or Yuichiro at the workshop who mentioned that getting power back to the east coast was a problem because on the west coast of Japan they use a different voltage?
This is why I always check all my power supplies. I prefer the ones that say 50/60Hz 100-240V. Then all I have to worry about is the physical adaption. I also try to standardize all my smaller devices to USB charging. When i go traveling, i just take a high amperage USB charger that can handle any voltage and frequency, and a USB hub to plug all my devices into it. Alternatively, I plug in my laptop and charge everything from that. I generally only need a single outlet, and thus, a single universal plug adapter.
ReplyDelete:)
I'm actually impressed they still make clocks that way. I had assumed that by now integrated quartz timer chips were so common and cheap that no one would bother doing it any other way.
Learned something new! Domo!