Absurd or Brilliant? The Japanese philosophy of unconventional products

A noodle fan, a fingertip toothbrush, umbrellas for shoes – all these and many other absurd inventions make up the art of chindogu, accidentally created in Japan several decades ago. At first glance, it seems useless and stupid, but many consider it a brilliant invention of humanity, by no means devoid of ideas.

How Kenji Kawakami came up with the philosophy of the useless

The art of useless things, which is popular today, originated in the 1990s by accident. One day, Kenji Kawakami, the author and editor of the monthly Japanese magazine Mail Order Life, found himself with several extra pages in an issue of the magazine, and he found an unusual way to resolve the situation. Deciding to make his readers laugh, who were mostly housewives living in rural areas, he posted an unusual report in the magazine about strange and useless goods that could not be bought.

The set included photographs of his own glasses with an eye drop container, which were presented as glasses that moisturize the eyes and prevent the medicine from flowing down the cheeks. Visit. A F R I N I K . C O M . For the full article. It also featured a night flashlight powered by solar energy and women’s high-heeled shoes with wheels.

All these things looked ridiculous, and apart from laughter and cheerful discussion among the readers, they had no effect, but that was what the magazine’s editor needed, whose rating jumped by the next issue. Kawakami had no choice but to continue inventing useless and ridiculous things for the next issues of magazines, which gave him great pleasure.

He named these useless objects chindogu, combining the Japanese words “chin,” meaning “strange” or “unusual,” and “dogu,” meaning “device” or “tool.” These things were far from practical, but they looked very funny.

These useless items could not be mass-produced and sold abroad like other goods, but they were perceived as unusual works of art that always brought a smile. There was also a fair amount of rebellion in them, as they served as a form of criticism of consumerism, the material world, and what in Japan is known as the economic model.

Kawakami’s useless objects soon found fans beyond the Mail Order Life readership, and their author was allowed to exhibit his work at art exhibitions in Tokyo. He quickly gained universal recognition, becoming the world’s first master of chindogu. In the following decades, this idea was picked up by other authors.

The honor code of the inventor of useless things

After becoming a renowned designer of useless things, Kenji Kawakami developed a comprehensive philosophy dedicated to the art of chindogu. It is based on ten principles, thanks to which this art can exist, representing a unique “intellectual game that stimulates the human mind.”
The main principle is that chindogu are artificial objects, free from the idea of usefulness. If this invention can be used, it’s not chindogu!

The second fundamental principle states that the art of Chindogu must exist materially so that people can see how practically useless it is. If a person designs an invention on paper and does not bring it to life, it will not meet the requirements of chindogu. It will be just a piece of paper with a description of a failed invention, nothing more.

Chindogu should represent the freedom of thought and action of its inventor, and at the same time, be understandable to everyone without exception. If the understanding of its uselessness is accessible only to people with certain professional knowledge, this is not chindogu! For example, an invention in the field of space flight control, the futility of which can only be assessed by a scientist working in this field, should not be considered Chindogu; for this reason, it should be understandable to ordinary people. These are the third and fourth principles of useless art.

An equally important fifth principle that Kenji Kawakami actively promotes is that chindogu is not for sale! If a person takes money for his invention, he “desecrates its spirit” and, accordingly, it ceases to belong to the art of Chindogu, passing into the category of useful things that bring a certain income to its inventor and manufacturers.

According to Kawakami’s sixth commandment, humor should not be the only reason to create useless things. Any humor is a side effect of creating chindogu. A useless invention should sincerely try to solve a problem unconventionally and strangely, and only after that can it become a source of humor. If someone tries to make a funny object and succeeds, then they don’t create a chindoga – they create a funny object. Chindogu is not propaganda! They are based on the principle of failure. Kawakami is sincerely convinced that these things are created to be used, but their idea turns out to be unsuccessful and useless.

Chindogu are not subject to prejudice, but at the same time, they should not become a source of discrimination against people based on race, religion, age, gender, or class. They cannot be created to embody “black” humor and a disrespectful attitude towards anyone. These are the eighth and ninth precepts of chindogu. And finally, the tenth principle states that chindogus cannot be patented and are restricted in use by copyright; they must remain in the public domain, free for use, recreation, and distribution.

The philosophy of Chindogu helps some people to find themselves and others to earn money

The creator of Chindogu, who proclaimed these principles at the end of the last century, strongly opposes the concept of materialism, stating that he despises everything that becomes a commodity. Being the inventor of hundreds of useless objects, during this time, he wrote four books on the art of Chindogu. Kawakami donates all proceeds from the sale of his books to charity and refuses to pay for interviews with various media outlets.

According to Kawakami, chindogu art opposes this materialistic world in which everything is valued in monetary or utilitarian terms; it helps people to live and find themselves, freed from its conventions. Kawakami has many followers who have created numerous amazing and useless things during the existence of this unusual art form. However, at the same time, other people often try to benefit from chindogu. And since this art cannot be patented, sometimes they do it very successfully.

The most striking example of chindogu commercialization is Matty Benedetto’s Unnecessary Inventions project. He is openly engaged in commerce, developing his popular brand online, having millions of subscribers, and successfully selling items similar to chindoga, while crowding out the popularity of the creator of this art and his followers.

Kawakami himself had “failures”. The selfie stick, now a familiar sight, was initially considered a useless invention and first appeared in the first edition of his book in 1995. With the advent of smartphones, it began to be widely produced and sold by various companies. After that, Kawakami excluded her from the Chindogu list.