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Chindogu is the not-so-ancient Japanese art of inventing
ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the face of it, seem like an ideal
solution to a particular problem. However, Chindogu has a distinctive
feature : anyone actually attempting to use one of these inventions, would
find that it causes so many new problems, or such significant social
embarrassment, that - in effect - it has no utility whatsoever. Thus,
Chindogu are sometimes described as 'un-useless' - that is, they cannot be
regarded as 'useless' in an absolute sense, since they do actually solve a
problem; however, in practical terms, they cannot positively be called
'useful'.
Literally translated, 'Chindogu' means weird / unusual ('chin') tool
('dogu'). The term was coined by Kenji Kawakami, a Japanese inventor and
writer who first made the idea prominent in a book translated into English,
in the mid-nineties, as 101 Un-useless Japanese Inventions: The Art of
Chindogu. The popular success of this book prompted a follow-up, 99 More
Un-useless Japanese Inventions, which was published a few years later.
Together, the books have sold nearly a quarter of a million copies in Japan
alone, and have been translated into most of the major world languages.
Examples from the books include:
- A combined household duster and cocktail-shaker, for the housewife who
wants to reward herself as she's 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
hydrophobia to bathe without coming into contact with water
There are ten key tenets to bear in mind, if you wish to design a
Chindogu. The principal among these are :- (a) it has to be possible to make
(ie, it has to actually exist), in spite of its uselessness; (b) it has to
remain in the public domain (ie, it cannot be given a patent); and (c) it
must not be exclusively a vehicle for humor, or the warped satirical
worldview of the inventor. There is frequently humor in a Chindogu, of
course, but this should properly be regarded as incidental, rather than as
an end in itself. A full list of the tenets is available here
In spite of the stipulation that Chindogu should not be used for
satirical ends, Kawakami himself does appear to regard them as a kind of
antidote to consumerism, and the Western obsession with making life as
'easy' as possible. He describes Chindogu as "invention dropouts,"
anarchically brilliant ideas that have broken free from "the suffocating
historical dominance of conservative utility." One might wish to design
Chindogu for a number of reasons, for example to improve one's mental
sharpness, to develop them as an art form, or simply to revel in a purely
creative act without having to worry about utility or making money.
And then, of course, there is the simple pleasure to be had from a
perfectly logical solution that turns out to be perfectly useless.
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