It’s the Bizarre World of Chindougu!

The Father of “Chindougu”(Weird Gadgets), KAWAKAMI Kenji

It’s baby clothing with cleaning mops. What is this? “Wouldn’t it be great if the baby cleans up the floor as it crawls along?” KAWAKAMI Kenji, an inventor of the “Baby Mop” says as if it were nothing. “The baby is practicing filial devotion to its parents already!”

Inventions, in general, are considered to be the creation of new things in pursuit of greater convenience. Kawakami, however, thought that people invent things for money. If you take the fetters of making money off the invention, our ideas will be larger and richer. Kawakami came up with a concept called the “Paradox of invention!” That is an invention that becomes more inconvenient when you use it.

With this principle, Kawakami established the “Japan Chindougu Society” in 1992. By gathering some interesting ideas from the public as well as using his own, Kawakami has invented nearly 700 unique, unusual chindougu inventions. The trick of chindougu is that you invent something for increased convenience. But a whole new level of inconvenience will be created. This is the secret of bizarre and radical chindougu.

Kawakami, stimulating people with his unique ideas, has had many different kinds of jobs. At first, he wrote articles for magazines, and then wrote scripts for a TV animation series. Then he started to edit a popular mail-order magazine.

Kawakami came up with the idea of “chindougu” when he was looking for new and fun ideas for the magazine. With his love for creating fun things, he kept introducing new inventions one after another in the magazine. Chindougu instantly became popular, and more readers began to buy the magazine because they wanted to read the chindougu segment. It made chindougu more popular.

Kawakami then decided to publish a book. Britain’s BBC heard the story and came to Japan to film Kawakami. Before he knew it, the book about chindougu had been translated into English and published in England. Other media including CBS, CNN and ABC of the U.S. also came to film Kawakami. This exposure led to another translation of the book going on sale in the U.S. The BBC now screens a regular program about chindougu once every 12 to 18 months.

Chindougu have since become popular all over the world. But each country has different viewpoints on it. In Japan and the U.S., people take chindougu in a humorous and comical way. In Europe, it’s taken as art. In Australia and Korea, it’s taken as science. Kawakami said that one French person told him, “This kind of invention should have been created by us!”

Born and raised in a small town in Nara prefecture, Kawakami always liked airplanes. As a teenager, he conducted a big flying experiment, attaching a huge sheet to the back of a bicycle, and had a motor bike — connected by a rope — pull the bicycle. He stunned the neighbors. All he thought about was airplanes. His strong interest in the field led him to study Aeronautics and Astronautics in college in order to become an airplane engineer.

When he was in high school, he became also familiar with literature. It awakened a very real sense in himself of various social injustices, and he thought, “Justice should always be paramount.” After settling down in Tokyo, Kawakami joined the student movement with great passion when it was at its height. He says he could not bear injustices such as political corruption.

“When people follow the rules and hold onto preconceived opinions, it’s easy for politicians to act the way they want. It makes no sense. I want people to look at other side of politics,” Kawakami says with a raised voice. His radical enthusiasm might even have influenced his personal life — “My wife ran away from me!” Kawakami added quite openly.

Is chindougu going against our material desire for convenient things? Kawakami emphasizes, “Humans have great imaginations by nature. But our lives are strictly tied down by rules, systems and customs. We need to train our imaginations more and have freer minds and ideas. I want people to look at the other side of chindougu.”

*“The Ten Tenets of Chindougu”
1. A chindougu cannot be for real use.
2. A chindougu must exist.
3. Inherent in every chindougu is the spirit of anarchy.
4. Chindougu are tools for everyday life.
5. Chindougu are not for sale.
6. Humour must not be the sole reason for creating a chindougu.
7. Chindougu are not propaganda.
8. Chindougu are never taboo.
9. Chindougu cannot be patented.
10. Chindougu are without prejudice.

*The tenets above are English translations from a book published in London by Harper COLLINS.

Japan Chindougu Society
www.chindougu.net/about.htm

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