Frequently asked
What is Wadokei?
A clock for Japan's traditional way of keeping time, for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android. It shows the twelve toki (double-hours) that stretch and shrink with the sun, the 72 kō microseasons grouped under the 24 sekki, and teaches the kanji behind them, with kanji, romaji and English everywhere. It used to be called 72 Japanese Seasons; it is the same app.
What are toki, sekki and kō?
Toki are the old double-hours: six from sunrise to sunset, six from sunset to sunrise, so their length changes with the season. Sekki are the 24 solar terms of the year, and kō are the 72 five-day microseasons within them, like "bush warblers begin to sing".
Does it need my location or the internet?
No internet is needed. Everything is computed on your device from the sun's position, so it works for any year with no updates. Location is used only to work out your local sunrise and sunset, and it stays on your device. Without it, the app uses a fixed Tokyo reference. See the privacy policy.
Is there an Apple Watch app?
Yes. There's an Apple Watch app with complications (a 12-tick toki dial, plus a sekki and kō complication with the day count), as well as Lock Screen and Home Screen widgets on iPhone and iPad. The Android version has home screen widgets too, but no Wear OS app yet.
Is there an Android version?
Yes. Wadokei for Android is on its way to Google Play, and this page will carry the store link as soon as it is live. It is the same app: the same toki dial, the same 24 sekki and 72 kō, the same kanji breakdowns, with home screen widgets. Everything is still worked out on your device.
I bought the full almanac. How do I get it back?
The unlock is a one-time purchase tied to the store account you bought it with, so signing in with the same Apple Account or Google account and reinstalling restores it at no extra cost. A purchase made on the App Store does not carry over to Google Play, or the other way round: the two stores cannot see each other. If it does not come back, email us and we will sort it out.
How accurate is the calendar?
The sekki and kō come from the sun's ecliptic longitude, and sunrise and sunset use the standard NOAA equation for your date and location, accurate to about a minute for roughly 1800 to 2100, and it never expires because it is an algorithm, not a lookup table.