Chindogu: Word of the Day

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According to Wikipedia the definition says …

Chindogu is the not-so-ancient Japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the face of it, seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem. However, Chindogu has a distinctive feature: anyone actually attempting to use one of these inventions, would find that it causes so many new problems, or such significant social embarrassment, that effectively it has no utility whatsoever. Thus, Chindogu are sometimes described as ‘unuseless’ – that is, they cannot be regarded as ‘useless’ in an absolute sense, since they do actually solve a problem; however, in practical terms, they cannot positively be called ‘useful’.

Examples of Chindogu include the hay fever hat, commuter’s helmet, the automated noodle cooler, and the portable crosswalk (shown above).

Consider yourself educated on this Tuesday, March 28th!

One Comment

  1. Michelle says:

    So, I see you still have too much time on your hands. This is pretty hilarious.

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