VIDEO: 10 Weirdest Inventions

21st century may have been a great time for science and technology, but it has also brought along extremely bizarre inventions. This video is a collection of the weirdest ones out there. Most of them are Japanese, which probably doesn’t surprise you, as we all know Japan is the country that produces 90% of the world’s weird stuff. They even have a name for the process – Chindōgu.

Anyone can write on Evonews. Start writing!

According to Wikipedia, Chindōgu 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 tool”. 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.

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.

Tofugu teaches us how to distinguish real chindogu from imitators.

This is the utmost tenet. If your invention is a real help and you use it all the time, it’s not chindogu. Try selling it to the public because it could be worth millions. Too bad it has no soul.

Chindogu have to be made. If you design the invention on paper and don’t make it, it doesn’t qualify. It’s a piece of paper with a bad invention on it. Bring the invention into the physical world so humankind can experience how truly almost useless it is.

Chindogu are free to be what they need to be. Normal devices are designed for efficiency, ease of use, and utility.

If you create a device that is only recognized as useless by people with certain knowledge sets (doctors, mechanics, biologists, etc.) then it is not chindogu.

For example, if you make a useless invention intended to help with space shuttle operations, it would take a rocket scientist to distinguish it from useful space tools. Normal people must be able to recognize the uselessness immediately.

If you accept money for your invention, it ceases to be chindogu. You have violated its spirit.

Any humor derived from chindogu is a side effect. The invention must earnestly try and solve a problem. The roundabout and unconventional way it solves the problem is the source of the humor.

They are made to be used, even though they are (almost) useless. They are not, in and of themselves, a statement for any cause or philosophy.

Chindogu inventions cannot be made to enact or represent cheap sexual innuendo, vulgar humor, or sick jokes that disrespect living things.