chindōgu is the japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the face of it, seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem. here is a list of seven of my most favorite.

360-degree-panoramic-camera.jpg

360 degree panoramic camera

cockroach-swatting-slippers.jpg

cockroach swatter slippers

hay-fever-hat.jpg

toilet paper/ tissue dispenser

portable-office-tie.jpg

portable office tie

ten-in-one-gardening-tool.jpg

10-in-1 gardening tool

the-noodle-eater_s-hair-guard.jpg

hair noodle protector

umbrella-head-band.jpg

a hands-free umbrella

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83 Responses to “7 strange japanese inventions”  

  1. 1 dresdendoll

    Amazingly hilarious! I loved the extend-able slippers! :) Kill ‘em roaches!

  2. 2 xqzt

    WOAHHH!HH!h1h1h1h11

  3. 3 ewancoo

    ROFL! the gardening tool cracks me up! its like a swiss knife, only much bigger.

  4. 4 Mooka LaPlangiation

    No comment

  5. 5 sketching

    Thats wild :D

  6. 6 peacock

    uhh… we already have hands-free umbrellas in the form of little umbrella hats. Silly Japanese

  7. 7 Kevin Olsen

    Hey, every action has an equal an opposite reaction. Think of all the cool things they’ve come up with . . . these products are the “opposite reaction.”

  8. 8 Jeff

    Katamari Damacy isn’t on the list?

  9. 9 Leaf

    Those aren’t even the best ones from that ten year old book.

  10. 10 zach

    it seems the solution to a lot of problems in japan is to “mount things to your head”

  11. 11 tehZane

    You know, these were taken from a book called “101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions” By Kenji Murakami. (don’t worry it’s in english)

    There are 94 more of these in the book… these aren’t even the best ones.

  12. 12 edhead

    these things are so tired. you’d have to be a high-belted plumbing salesman from Iowa to chuckle at any of them.

  13. 13 lvoracle

    Good show!

  14. 14 Evann Hiller

    Actually, these were made as jokes specifically for the book “101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions.” so these are all fake, technically.

  15. 15 Fajar

    cool
    hands-free umbrella makes me laugh
    :lol:

  16. 16 ChaosFreak

    This is plagiarism, pure and simple. These photos were stolen from a Japanese book that was published over 10 years ago. I have informed the publisher…

  17. 17 lorettawilliams122

    Those were definately some good crazy ideas. I think my favorite all was the portable office tie. I thought that was actually a good idea for these on the go business people. Its a guarantee that they wont loose their wallet. However the 5 in one garden tool was not as great of on idea as the tie. Too bolky

  18. 18 D.D.

    Wow amazing! So creative!!!

  19. 19 Stephen

    I was in Japan recently and say a variant of the last one. An attachment on bicycle handlebars for an umbrella, but being used as a parasol to keep out of the sun.

  20. 20 Amir A

    photoshop

  21. 21 subcorpus

    you have to hnad it to japanese …
    the japs are so sophisticated and tech savvy in their own way …
    hehe …

  22. 22 yutthakan

    interesting 555

  23. 23 trademark registration

    What strange inventions! Even if they’re fake, they’re still hilarious. =)

  24. 24 dratgosy

    I’m gonna tape an umbrella on my head today!!

  25. 25 ender

    ewancoo:

    uhm, that’s why it’s funny.

  26. 26 shawal

    Japanese are so creative mind people…. Congrats!!!

  27. 27 magensaa

    it’s hillarious, but i like the idea :D

  28. 28 rook1e

    japanese are very smart people. my laptop and car is from japan… everything is from japan nowadays..

  29. 29 Wow

    No wonder Japaneese people invent the most things. They probably got 1 billion inventions coming out yearly and 1% change the face of the world

  30. 30 machevallie

    nice pic more pliss

  31. 31 passang

    wat more can i say.. the pictures speak a thousand words. keep going japan..

  32. 32 about:blank

    that noodle protector is genius. “Little weed!”

  33. 33 blobster818

    They are so cool! They are funny and, actually pretty practical. If they didn’t look so ridiculous…

  34. 34 cuzoogle

    I like the tie idea although your neck would get tired

  35. 35 namo1981

    you forgot bukakke!

  36. 36 factoryon5th

    These are great! Love ‘em all.

  37. 37 Genevieve

    i’ve seen the hair noodle protector before but not the others. that camera is so functional and not at all bizarre.

  38. 38 hoganfe handmade handbag originals

    LOL thanks!

  39. 39 phoebe

    The umbrella looks like it can go far…hehe

  40. 40 hiralove

    cool man….

  41. 41 abhishekrane

    very funny lolz!!! great post!!!!

  42. 42 Business Links

    Very funny indeed.

    I wonder if any of these were made for humor sake. Also, the last one, the “hands free umbrela”, isn’t all that bad of an idea.

  43. 43 Dave Nofmeister

    I don’t think the “hands free umbrela” is such a bad idea, actually.

  44. 44 darkforeigner

    some of those are pretty cool!

  45. 45 berino47

    well,that’s go’s to show you, why we buy products from outside america, dumb, but great!

  46. 46 tessa

    hands free umbrella but with a handle

  47. 47 rinoa

    Yea, those are useless.

  48. 48 alexcase

    As a few people have partly explained, they aren’t photoshop and they are not exactly meant to be jokes either. You are supposed to laugh, but then you are supposed to go “Wait a minute…” and rethink your preconceptions. It’s almost a Zen thing, like a nonsense parables that are supposed to have the same effect (”The sound of one hand clapping” etc.) However, if you just enjoy them as a bit of fun, I’m sure the inventor of these unuseless inventions wouldn’t mind.

    TEFLtastic blog- http://www.tefl.net/alexcase

  49. 49 shrayparekh

    fantastic - love the hair noodle protector

  50. 50 hellara

    hilarious! ROFL :)

  51. 51 erikny

    oh man what a blast from the past!
    I received a book about 6 or 7 years ago which contained dumb japanese inventions and all of these were in there.

    even after 7 years, i’m still advocating the use of the panoramic camera!

  52. 52 alexcase

    You might want to check your spam filter

  53. 53 natabitch

    HAHAHAHAH DEY SUKK DONKEYS ASSS

    LOSERS

    THE INVENTIONS ARE SHIT

  54. 54 Breaking News

    Excellent!!!

  55. 55 GorgusPranksters

    Wow it amazes me how japanese people can get even more useless they rn’t pretty either and their men are sooooooooooo ugly! No point in the japanese really….. THEY SUCK and natabitch you are soooo right lol

  56. 56 fuck

    wat the fuck

  57. 57 dakota

    these inventions are already invented in america.

  58. 58 austin paten in mr. suttons class

    every in japan sucks monkey balls and my little dick

  59. 59 wade

    these are stupid

  60. 60 Jamie

    I saw your information at http://picdit.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/7-strange-japanese-inventions/ and thought you might enjoy adding http://www.wikipatents.com to your page. WikiPatents has a database of millions of patents and patent applications, allows PDF downloading of patents, provides file histories, and other helpful information. It is an excellent free resource for researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors and students.

    Enjoy,

    Jamie

  61. 61 Mariyam

    It’s very interesting!I’d like it)))))))))

  62. 62 BOBY

    these are some awesome invents

  63. 63 Lincoln Evitt

    Patent Retriever http://www.patentretriever.com lets people download patents in PDF for free. Its a simple and easy to use web site and requires no registration beforehand and doesn’t insert logos into the PDF pages.

    I use it all the time, and you should try it out next time you want a patent PDF without paying a cent.

  64. 64 sbs

    simple invenions nothing important but also it’s good to try :D

  65. 65 promokat

    It was very useful

  66. 66 Emily

    I loved the toilet paper && the noodle one! >.< Made me laugh out loud… srsly!
    Hehehe:3

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