Nobody needs to start the day with a rude awakening. But for many of us, that’s often what we get. Think about how you feel when you wake up without an alarm clock. Now contrast this to how you feel when you’re jolted out of a deep sleep. There’s a big difference – and it makes a big difference to the rest of your day. We don’t always have the luxury of waking up when we feel like it, or when we’re ready to face the world, but there’s a way to get around this. It’s called a sunrise alarm clock, otherwise known as a wake up light in Japan.
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What Is A Sun Rise Alarm Clock ?
A sunrise alarm or wake-up light is a bedside light that simulates natural and gradually increasing light. This adjusts your bio rhythm from sleep to awake, thus triggering you to arise naturally. The best sunrise alarm clock will not only wake you up with a simulated sunrise, but also condition the lighting and ambiance of your room to lull you to sleep at night.
Light Pollution and Circadian Rhythm
We all have something called a circadian rhythm, or the body clock. It cues us into natural time and light cycles triggering the body to activate or to rest. Waking up to natural light is of great benefit. Unfortunately, city light pollution means we need curtains or drapes to shut out unnatural light in order to fall asleep.
A trick that works for some is to leave a small gap in the drapes or blinds for the morning light to enter your room. This can gradually lift you out of a sleeping rhythm into a waking rhythm. With a sunrise alarm clock, you can sleep in total darkness, and enjoy the blessings of the morning light. If you’re really tired or a heavy sleeper, the best wake up light also has an audio alert as a fail safe mechanism.
- Sleep in total darkness anywhere.
- Wake up naturally to light.
- Back up audio alarm.
- Start the day in balance.
- Select the right mood for bedtime.
What to Expect from Your Wake-Up Light or Sunrise Alarm Clock in Japan
Many wake-up lights are generic products sold under various names, but there are major manufacturers that make them too. Before you decide if a wake up light is what you need in Japan, here’s a run down of what to expect from your sunrise alarm clock.
Basic Wake Up Settings and Operation
- Gradual light increase from 10 to 60 min.
- Wake up color from red to yellow to bright white.
- Up to 300 lux of brightness.
- Audio alarm 30 min into sunrise cycle.
- Snooze function up to three repeats.
- Wake up melodies or ‘natural sounds’.
- FM radio tuner.
Sunset Functions and Features
- 7 atmospheric evening color shades.
- Display dim for total darkness.
- Adjustable reading light or child nursing light.
- Automatic dimming to shutdown incl. radio or sounds.
Exclusive Features and Have Nots
- Muting of audio alarm.
- Louder secondary alarm for heavy sleepers.
- Bluetooth speakers for streaming.
- Enhanced speakers.
- Dial in radio stations.
The Best Wake Up Light in Japan and Other Contenders
Click Image to Go to The Review
Asper X Wake Up Light
- Union of Sun and Moon
- 30 min sunrise / sunset
- Detachable remote
- Quality natural sounds
- Rooster call
- 15 volume settings
- Quality speaker
- Color brightness control
- Save favorite channel
- Tap to snooze
Things That Are an Eye-Opener
This is one of the few wake up lights with a remote control, and the design is also pretty smart. The remote control unit incorporates the time display and slots into the base of the clock, where it recharges. It can operate all functions including brightness, color, ringtone, volume, time, and the FM radio tuner.
It’s also a perfect bedside light for reading, and kids really love it. Its 7 wake-up sounds—rooster, light music, bird, wave, stream, and piano—are some of the most natural sounding out of all the other alarms reviewed. It’s fairly large measuring some 20 cm high and wide, and 7.5 cm deep. As such, it has nice quality speakers and 15 volume level settings.
This wake-up light has the seven colors, but the difference is you can set intensity levels for all colors, and you can also set the colors to cycle around. The FM radio has auto search, you can save favorite channels, and there’s an extendable antenna. By tapping the top you can change light functions, and there’s also tap and snooze for conveniently going back to sleep.
Reasons To Hit Snooze
There aren’t really any turn offs to this wake up light. Perhaps for some, it might be a bit large, and you only have a 30 minute light window whereas more popular models have up to an hour. You can’t dim the red light display at the base, but you can take the remote out the slot and put it under a cover while you sleep.
Uuroba Yabae Wake-Up Light
- 10 to 60 min sunrise
- 6 natural sounds
- 7 colors
- Mute all sounds & lights
- 2 snooze buttons
- 3 ambient Sunset sounds
- Independent reading light
- Power backup
Things That Are an Eye-Opener
For the price, the value of the functions on this wake-up light are not bad. One nice thing is you can choose to use only the light to wake up, the audio alarm, or both. You can set the audio alarm to go off within a 10 to 60 min window of the sunlight simulation – which can emit up to 300 lux units.
There are also two snooze buttons on the left and the right for convenience, as well as seven colors and six natural sound selections. This clock is a little different too because you can choose between three sunset sounds, whereas most other clocks just have one choice or the radio.
Reasons To Hit Snooze
The manual is only available in Japanese, and even so, the instructions are not so clear and somewhat lacking. For some people, especially the elderly, the buttons are too small, and a few too many. Basic functions are easy enough, but setting the alarms takes a little practice.
Like most sunrise alarms clocks at this price, the radio is fixed to specific stations and frequencies, so it may or may not work in other countries. Also, the radio audio quality is good enough to wake up to, but not so great for extended listening.
Hemi Vision Smart Wake-Up Light
- Sunrise / Sunset
- Alexa , Google Home commands
- App controllable
- 7 alarm sounds
- 4 alarm settings
- 3 relax sounds
- 20 brightness levels
- FM radio 76-108 MHz
- USB cell smartphone charger
- Display off
Things That Are an Eye-Opener
This sunrise alarm clock comes with an app which also gives access to additional functions. You can also connect to Google Home, Alexa and other smart home providers. Some people have difficulty setting up, but there is an English manual available or you can go to the International homepage. Wake up sounds include birds, ocean, stream, wind chimes, soft piano, beep, and the radio.
Reasons To Hit Snooze
For most, the disappointment are the sounds which have a short loop and sound kind of synthesized. Also, you can’t use the wake-up light without the audio alarm, you can’t use snooze with the radio, and the stations are fixed frequencies.
If you’re not into the tech, it’s best not to buy this wake up light, because if you don’t download and sync the app, the WiFi light will continuously blink. Also, it only connects with a 2.5 gHz modem and not a newer 5 gHz.
Phillips Wake-Up Light
- 20 to 40 min sunrise
- 60 min sunset option
- 5 audio alarms
- 9 min tap to snooze
- 2 alarms
- FM radio
- Display dim
Things That Are an Eye-Opener
The Phillips wake up light has long been a top seller, and this is their most advanced model available in Japan. They like to claim their light is the only one to be clinically tested, but that’s not to say other brands or generics don’t achieve the same results.
For a leading brand you pay quite a premium on this light, but the reported life cycle is generally around 4 years. It doesn’t have multi-colored light functions or a lot of extra features, so this means it’s a lot less complicated and easier to use than most other lights.
Reasons To Hit Snooze
The unit is quite bulky—20 cm of height and width and about 15 cm deep—so it’s probably better suited for larger rooms. Design wise it’s somewhat antiquated whereas younger people would prefer more functions and smart app controls. There’s an English manual or you can access the product homepage.
Yabae Mini Wake-Up Light
- 100 x 180 mm (DxH)
- 12 / 24 hour time
- 3 illumination levels
- Multi color display
- 30 min sunrise
- 5 wakeup sounds
- 6 min soft alarm
- Loud alarm
- 5 min snooze x 3
Things That Are an Eye-Opener
This popular light is different from other sunrise alarms not just in its shape, but also the size. This clock is 180 mm x 100 mm so doesn’t take up too much space, and the other advantage is it gives 360 degrees of illumination. It’s also easy to use with just five control buttons underneath and a touch interface on the top.
By touching the top you can select three levels of illumination fit for a room light, a reading light, a sleeping or child nursing light. If you give a long press, the light will cycle onto a multi color display, but for this there is only one mid illumination level. Sounds include bird chirp, stream , wind chime, electronic tone, and melody with 4 volume levels including sound mute.
Reasons To Hit Snooze
This Yabe Mini does not have a sleep timer, so it cannot be used as a sunset clock. It is a rebranded generic product and it comes with a Japanese manual, but there are also English instructions included. It doesn’t have any portable battery feature, but the adapter has a long 1.5 meter cord and a USB cable is included.
- Find the best small air purifiers to complement your sunrise alarm clock.