Karakuri clock in Fujisaki, Aomori reopens for the first time in eight years, surrounded by clapping and applause
The karakuri clock in the clock square on the 1st floor of Aeon Fujisaki store (Fujisaki-cho, Minami-Tsugaru-gun) reopened on November 25th for the first time in eight years.
The name of the karakuri clock is "Humming Bird". Once an hour, three birds play the clarinet, guitar, and small drum. Since its opening in November 1989, it has been loved by locals as the store's symbol. Around 2015, the system started to malfunction and was discontinued.
Amidst the crowd of local residents who had gathered to catch a glimpse of the reopening after an eight-year hiatus, three birds, Poppo, Cook, and Tot, were unable to appear on time due to mechanical problems during the 10 o'clock show. Ta. The host drew laughter from the audience with follow-up comments such as ``They were warming up'' and ``The birds were surprised and nervous to see so many people.''
Many people held up their smartphones and cameras to the ``Humming Bird,'' which was activated by a manual switch. The approximately three-minute performance was met with applause and applause after the performance, with children in the audience shouting things like ``I want to see you again'' and ``Bye-bye!'' with joy.
The store's manager, Tsuneaki Watanabe, said, ``We started preparations for full-scale repairs in May of this year.The manufacturer who manufactured the product had already gone out of business, so we had to find a company that could repair it.We were finally able to show it off. I'm glad that we were able to do this and that the locals are happy with it," he says with a smile.
Shogo Takeda, a member of the ``Hamanasu-dan'' karakuri clock research group, was the one who looked at him more enthusiastically than anyone else. Mr. Takeda, who investigates and researches karakuri clocks from all over the country, visited Aomori from Gifu on this day. Takeda says, ``The number of karakuri clocks is decreasing year by year across the country, but cases of them being repaired and put back into operation are quite rare.I could feel for myself that they are loved by local people.''
A mechanical clock moves every hour on the hour.