Chindōgu

Chindōgu (珍道具^?) is the Japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday gadgets that seem like an ideal solution to a particular problem, but are in fact useless.

Literally translated, chindōgu means unusual (珍, chin^?) tool (道具, dōgu^?). The term was coined by Kenji Kawakami, a Japanese inventor and editor of the magazine "Mail Order Life." Kawakami himself said that a more appropriate translation is "weird tool". Dan Papia then introduced it to the English-speaking world and popularized it as a monthly feature in his magazine, Tokyo Journal, encouraging readers to send in ideas. Kawakami and Papia collaborated on the English language book 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindōgu in 1995.

Examples from the books include:

Chindōgu and its creator Kenji Kawakami also became a regular feature on a children's television show produced by the BBC called It'll Never Work?, a show in a similar vein as the BBC's Tomorrow's World; however, It'll Never Work usually focused more on wacky and humorous gadgets than on serious scientific and technological advances.

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