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Food

This Japanese Alarm Clock Wakes You Up with the Sounds of Breakfast

The Jikkalarm is an elaborate alarm clock that, at the designated time, will begin to mechanically chop away on the cutting board and blow mist over a faux bowl of miso soup in the direction of the sleeper, presumably to emulate the steaming hot broth...

The alarm clock is a dreaded device that crosses national and cultural borders, a real-life early morning boogeyman that inevitably wrests you forcefully from sleep each and every day. Though you may try to soften the din by replacing the horrid classic ringing with whale songs, you'll still be reaching for the snooze button.

But one Japanese company is hoping to change the way you wake up, and their invention will lure you from sleep with a cutting board, a knife, a mister, and the sounds of mum's cooking. Sounds a little Friday the 13th, doesn't it?

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The Jikkalarm is an elaborate alarm clock that, at the designated time, will begin to mechanically chop away on the cutting board and blow mist over a faux bowl of miso soup in the direction of the sleeper, presumably to emulate the steaming hot broth of your Japanese breakfast.

jikkalarm-clock-1B

Image via Nanka

The alarm's name comes from the word jikka, meaning home, and RocketNews 24 reports that the alarm clock offers different settings that may more accurately reflect the owner's living situation and perhaps inadvertently offer a commentary on gender roles: There's "Mom mode," where the chopping noises are quick and expert; and "Newlywed Mode," wherein the chopping is slower and erratic.

匂いと包丁の暖かい音で起きられる世界初の目覚まし時計JIkkalarmの使用例動画を公開します。 pic.twitter.com/SKYBqh2PEr

— nanka (@nankasince2016) May 7, 2016

Maybe the Jikkalarm will help you snap to in the morning. But you also might be slightly alarmed—pun sort of intended—by the idea of a machine banging a chef's knife against a cutting board inches from your head while you groggily wake and your stubby fingers reach for the snooze button.

For now, the Jikkalarm, which is manufactured by the design firm Nanka, is a prototype, so presumably by the time the clocks go on sale they'll have the whole knife-by-your-head thing figured out. Hopefully, these clocks will make it to a store near you (unlike the bacon alarm clock) and eventually, stateside—since waking up sucks the world over, and we can all use whatever help we can get.