Chindōgu (珍道具) is the Japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the surface, seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem. However, chindōgu has a distinctive feature: anyone attempting to use one of these inventions would find that it causes so many new problems, or such significant social embarrassment, that effectively it has no utility whatsoever. Thus, chindōgu are sometimes described as "unuseless" – that is, they cannot be regarded as "useless" in an absolute sense, since they solve a problem; however, in practical terms, they cannot be called "useful".
Contents
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, first edition 1995. The popular success of this book prompted a follow-up, 99 More Unuseless 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. The website Chindogu.com was established in 1997.
Examples
Examples from the books include:
Three tenets
There are three key tenets to bear in mind in designing a chindōgu. The principal among these are:
- it has to be possible to make (i.e., it has to exist), in spite of its absurdity
- it has to remain in the public domain (i.e., it cannot be given a patent)
- it must not be exclusively a vehicle for humor, or the warped satirical worldview of the inventor
There is frequently humor in a chindōgu, of course, but this should be regarded as incidental, rather than as an end unto itself.
In spite of the stipulation that chindōgu 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 chindōgu as "invention dropouts," anarchically brilliant ideas that have broken free from "the suffocating historical dominance of conservative utility." One might wish to design chindōgu 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.
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.