.....Or at least a glimpse of what a better life might be, with weird Japanese inventions that do exist, but aren't actually available to consumers.
At the King County Library on Vashon Island last month, with my kids, and on our way to Lisabuela Park (west on 220th, here), I stumbled upon "The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions," by Kenji Kawakami. The cover screamed, "check me out," so I did. The 2005 paperback version is a re-issue of two earlier books filled with nearly useless (hence, "unuseless"), often-hilarious, actually-built, not-for-sale, and necessarily unpatented inventions.
Kawakami is founder of the International Chindogu Society (their 10 tenets here). This book is a hoot; very entertaining. And also a great gift for that engineer, geek or plain old loon on your list.
Among my favorite gizmos are the solar-powered flashlight; the tongue cover ("take the heat off your tongue"); the ladies coffee mug with painted-on lipstick stains; the earing-catching suction cups placed on ladies' shoulders (I remember an early date when my now-wife could have used those); and the butterstick ("why dirty a knife?"). Other favorites are the eye drop funnel glasses to make sure eyedrops end up in the right place; and the "hay fever hat," a roll of tissue perched atop the head and secured with a handy chin strap.
Other picks: the automatic chew-counter strapped to the chin for substandard masticators; slip-on thumbnails for peeling oranges; cat duster slippers; the "wide awake eye opener" (a circular ring worn on the head with drop-down clothespins which attach to the upper eyelids); and the full body umbrella.
Alas, since a guiding tenet of Chindogu is that the goods can't actually be sold, I can only imagine how most of these inventions might improve my life. The hay fever hat, in particular, would come in handy for me, each spring.
TECHNORATI TAGS: CHINDOGU, INVENTIONS, JAPANESE
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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at September 13, 2005 07:40 PM