I can’t say I was an early bird as a child — and I certainly wasn’t as a teenager — but orders from my secret superhero commander would definitely have launched me into action at any hour. Wake up, First Sun Warrior of the Morning!
Japanese toy company People has released a new age alarm clock that supposedly helps kids wake up by turning them into Ultraman. It’s called the Okiro! Asa Ichiban Taiyou Senshi — Charenjaa Kitto (Wake Up! First Sun Warrior of the Morning — Challenger Kit) and was manufactured for the Japanese Ministry of Education “early to bed early to rise” program. The $38 kit comes with the extravagant eye shield and helmet; a series of talismans and message cards (no doubt world-saving secret missions); and a 27-day program that will involve your child taking orders from “the commander.”
The commander wakes the child up at 6 a.m., and prompts players to put on the helmet and hit a “roger” button to acknowledge their wakefulness. Then, they are ordered to count to 10 in five different languages: English, Japanese, German, Swahili and Malagasy. At that point, the player is “allowed to take off the equipment and start the day.”
(Hat tip to Tyler Cowen.)