I have received several messages about Edo Wonderland in regards to show times. So, before I continue on with my coverage of Edo Wonderland, there is something important that I need to mention.
The times of the shows are in Japanese!!!!
So, looking at the sign above, this may seem completely confusing to those who want to catch a show. While it’s easy to say that wait until you see a line of people go in, that doesn’t help as one caveat to Edo Wonderland is that for certain shows, they are spaced apart every hour or every few hours.
So, for this page, you may want to bookmark it or refer to it via smartphone if you are at Edo Wonderland and are confused by the showtimes.
時 (Ji) means – O’ Clock / 分 (Fun/Pun/bun) – Minutes
So, Ji is (like ‘gee’) and fun/pun/bun is like ‘foon’, ‘poon’ or ‘boon]. For minutes, fun is usually used with numbers ending in 2,5,7 and 9 and pun is often 1,6,8 and 10.
Numbers in Japanese ala On Reading (note: there is On and Kun, but since we are talking about time, we will discuss On):
1 – ichi (一)
2 – ni (二)
3 – san (三)
4 – yon (四)
5 – go (五)
6 – roku (六)
7 – shichi (七)
8 – hachi (八)
9 – ku/kyu (九)
10 – ju (十)
So, let’s take a look at the image again…
The easy thing to remember is that the cross is 10 (ju) and knowing the second number is always going to be 1, 2, 3 or 4 (so add that plus the 10 and that gives you the first initial time) from 11 a.m. up to 4:00 p.m., the next numbers are the minutes.
So, here is the first example:
Reading Japanese style from right to left… The first one is Juyon-ji nijugofun (14:25 ala 2:25 p.m.) and the one before it is Jugo-ji sanjugofun (15:35 ala 3:35 p.m.).
The ninja shows are once every hour, so factor in that most of them will be around the :25 minute or :35 minute mark starting past noon. There were two previous signs before it (not pictured).
Let’s try another… the water show:
Like the other theaters, the times are posted right outside of the building. Let’s look closer at the times:
This one, you would read from right to left (brown signs):
The first one says at ju-ji (exactly 10:00 a.m.), the next is Juni-ji, gojuppun (12:50 p.m.) and the final one is Jugo-ji gojugofun (15:55 p.m. ala 3:55 p.m.). So, if you want to watch the water show, you’ll have to wait a few hours until the next show.
As for the Bunka Gekijo, there are two times (from right to left in thin wood signs): Juichi-ji (exactly at 11:00 a.m.) and Jusan-ji Gojuppun (13:50 p.m. ala 1:50 p.m.) and that is all there is for this show (which features a geisha).
Let’s try one more…
This is the comedy show ala Ryogoku-za, the comedy theater show. Once again going from right to left, the first one (photo that is cut off) is ju-ji nijugofun (10:25 a.m.), the next one is Juichi-ji yonjuppun (11:40 a.m.), the next is jusan-ji gojuppun (13:50 p.m. ala 1:50 p.m.) and the final one is Juroku-ji (exactly at 16:00 ala 4:00 p.m.).
I hope this guide helps you in figuring out what time the shows are at Edo Wonderland.
Fortunately, while the show times are in Japanese, for those who are there for swordsmanship or horseback archery, the sign are in English and easy to follow.
Tomorrow’s post, I will go into the live shows!
