The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindogu

by Kenji Kawakami

Book Overview

In Japan, Kenji Kawakami is famous for his tireless promotion of Chindogu: the art of the unuseless idea. Kawakami has developed an entire philosophy around these bizarre and logic-defying gadgets and gizmos, which must work but are actually entirely impractical. Created in the spirit of anarchy, unuseless inventions are not allowed to be patented or sold.

Fans of the unuseless will love this completely absorbing collection of 200 Chindogu,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393326764
• ISBN13: 9780393326765
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

GREAT BATHROOM BOOK!

This book is a riot! I have brought it to many parties and people LOVE IT. It is a one page riot. Each page makes people laugh. Perfect for the office on dull days, the bathroom, a party or anywhere you need a good gag gift.

Great FUN!

Not only are the photographs of the strange inventions hilarious to look at, but the author's descriptions are cleverly written. I recently read this while on an airplane flight. It was hard to keep my giggling down to a low roar. One of the funniest books I have read.

Fun book to read

I am glad I heard about this book. It makes a terrific gift also.

Very funny book

This book is hysterically funny and so creative. A great gift.

Humorous look at oddball inventions

When my daughter invented a biofeedback-based antisnoring device (a stethoscope-like device with ear pieces and a sound-gathering tube taped beneath the nose) for a high school science fair, little did I realize that she had practiced Chindogu, or the art of creating an object that sounds useful and that almost satisfies a need... except for the fact that it fails in some essential way. Author Kenji Kawakami, whose International Chindogu Society promotes this wonderfully wacky art form, has compiled "The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions" to celebrate the best of Chindogu. Each of the 200 inventions includes a description and one or more color photographs of someone modeling or demonstrating the product. How can I begin to list the many types of devices found in this off-the-wall collection? There are many items of apparel ranging from a backscratcher's T-shirt with an itch grid ("Could you please scratch my back at F6?") to training high heels with stabilizer wheels. For the workaholics, there are an office tie and tool belt, each with handy compartments to hold business cards, a calculator, telephone, pens, and other office essentials. There are many umbrella devices, such as the full-body umbrella, an umbrella golf club, and shoe umbrellas to avoid nasty rain puddle splashes. For dieters there are a magnifying fork and dishes that hold half the food they seem to through the use of mirrors. For the handyman there are Swiss army gloves and lawn mower sandals. For the water hater there's a bath body suit to keep you dry no matter how long you soak in the tub. For the claustrophobe, there are wide-angle glasses to make that cramped apartment look roomy. For the ultimate in personal hygiene there are a two-sided toothbrush that cuts brushing time in half and a pair of eye drop funnel glasses. I could go on and on... but I'll leave you with this final gem: the solar-powered flashlight. What would be more impractical than that? These Chindogu do a masterful job at spoofing our insatiable need for gadgets. The deadpan photos of people using these items are hilarious. Not only will you laugh, but you might really crave a more refined version of some of these products. You might even be inspired to create an unuseless invention of your own. This book is a lot of fun! Eileen Rieback