Chindōgu

Chindōgu (珍道具) is the Japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem, but are in fact useless.^[1]

Background

Literally translated, chindōgu means unusual (珍, chin) tool (道具, dōgu). The term was coined by Kenji Kawakami, a Japanese inventor and editor of the magazine "Mail Order Life." Kawakami himself said that a more appropriate translation is "weird tool". Dan Papia then introduced it to the English-speaking world and popularized it as a monthly feature in his magazine, Tokyo Journal, encouraging readers to send in ideas. Kawakami and Papia collaborated on the English language book 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindōgu in 1995.

Examples from the books include:

• A combined household duster and cocktail-shaker, for the housewife who wants to reward herself as she is going along.
• The all-day tissue dispenser, which is basically a toilet roll fixed on top of a hat, for hay fever sufferers.
• Duster slippers for cats, so they can help out with the housework.
• The all-over plastic bathing costume, to enable people who suffer from aquaphobia to swim without coming into contact with water.
• The baby mop, an outfit worn by babies, so that as they crawl around, the floor is cleaned.^[2]
• The selfie stick, which was featured in a 1995 book of "101 Un-Useless Japanese Inventions". While dismissed as a "useless invention" at the time, it later gained global popularity in the 21st century.^[3]

In the media

Chindōgu and its creator Kenji Kawakami also became a regular feature on a children's television show produced by the BBC called It'll Never Work?, a show in a similar vein as the BBC's Tomorrow's World; however, It'll Never Work usually focused more on wacky and humorous gadgets than on serious scientific and technological advances.

See also

• Absurdism
• Heath Robinson
• Jacques Carelman
• Jugaad, a similar Indian concept
• Kludge, a clever but inelegant solution to a problem
• List of Japanese inventions
• Rube Goldberg
• Satire

References

Further reading

• Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place, Martin Fackler. The New York Times, October 20, 2007.
• The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions, Kenji Kawakami, trans. Dan Papia, ed. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Norton: New York, 2005.

External links

• Chindōgu Society Official Homepage (in Japanese)
• Interview with Kenji Kawakami