Book Review -- The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindogu

Actually, this isn't a proper book review, so that post title is misleading. This book, the Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions by Kenji Kawakami, was recently brought to my attention, however, and I want to rave about the excellence of its subject matter, namely the Japanese art/technology combination known as Chindogu.

Chindogu is, for the uninitiated, is the practice of inventing things that do, at first glance, solve a problem but that, upon closer examination, reveal themselves to be practically useless, often for the simple reason that hardly anyone would feel comfortable using the invention in public. Think of it as a sort of Dada inventing.

Falling asleep on the subway, for instance, could present a real problem for a commuter who misses his or her stop. Come to think of it, sleeping on the subway is also usually pretty uncomfortable, what with no head support. A Chindogu artist has come up with a solution -- a helmet with an attached plunger (to support the head against the wall of the subway car) and a sign displaying the passenger's destination and a polite request to shake the wearer when the train arrives. Brilliant! Uh, but I'm not going to wear that thing...

There are ten tenets of Chindogu, which you can read here.

To see more Chindogu, check out the book or the International Chindogu Society's website. Highly recommended!