For some reason, Japan has a thing for strange alarm clocks. Think of the helicopter clock, the Gun o’ clock or the railroad sign clock, for example. And now major Japanese toymaker Banpresto follows up with an alarm clock that has the characteristics of a traffic light [link leads to Amazon Japan, the company hasn't set up a dedicated site for the gadget yet].

And this alarm clock really looks nasty. Banpresto says they built in a 40mm speaker to make sure even the sleepiest of the sleepy will notice it once the alarm starts ringing (but there’s a snooze mode, too). You’ll get harassed by a total of four sounds, including traffic noise.

The traffic light alarm clock goes on sale in Japan on November 25 for $27. Contact the  Japan Trend Shop, Geek Stuff 4 U or Rinkya if you want to pre-order one and live outside Japan.