alt.hn

5/10/2026 at 2:32:39 PM

Chindogu: Weird and Useless Japanese Inventions

 https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/weird-japanese-inventions/

by ethanpil

5/10/2026 at 4:01:03 PM

One of my favorite possessions is an 18th century Japanese Sahku Dokei from the Tokugawa shogunate. It's a clock that tells time using twelve temporal hours, six for day, six for night. All the hour markers are movable, so you can adjust them as the seasons change, that way your hours are always evenly dividing the day and night.

It pretty obviously wasn't intended to be designed in the Chindogu style, as that was the standard method of telling time in Japan before the modern time system was adopted, but it sure feels like it when looking at it now.

by technothrasher

5/11/2026 at 11:47:43 AM

> “Japanese Sahku Dokei”

Well, that’s something quite old and still new to me. Thank you for sharing.

by xtiansimon

5/10/2026 at 4:02:58 PM

The Romans used a similar method of time division.

by nephihaha

5/10/2026 at 3:43:27 PM

I worked at an e‑waste center in the early 2000s that eventually shut down, and as a result still have roughly 50 pounds of old pagers in various states of disrepair.

One of my personal chindogu ideas (someday) is to wire them all up so I can control them from a phone app, then strap them to different "meridian points" on a customer to deliver an authentic beeper massage experience.

by vunderba

5/10/2026 at 4:01:53 PM

Check for Gold Apollo AR924 first before powering up...

by mustnotyu

5/10/2026 at 4:11:15 PM

I'll only use those for deep-tissue massage.

by vunderba

5/10/2026 at 5:01:32 PM

I remember in elementary school a friend had a book of these. The one I remember best was a dust mask that had been modified to receive something like 50 cigs so you could smoke them all at once.

by solomonb

5/10/2026 at 11:07:53 PM

Japanese people love umbrellas and there are many related products. On the other hand, I've heard that people in North America hardly use umbrellas. Is that true?

by teppeik

5/11/2026 at 7:45:08 AM

> I've heard that people in North America hardly use umbrellas. Is that true?

I'm Canadian (Alberta specifically), and I never use umbrellas, and I hardly ever see anyone else using them either. I've also travelled to lots of the other Canadian provinces and US states, and I don't remember ever seeing people using umbrellas there either. But this could be very local, so there might be regions in NA where umbrella usage is more common.

by gucci-on-fleek

5/12/2026 at 12:17:34 AM

Yes. I once guided two Canadian friends on a tour of Japan, and even when it rained, they didn't use umbrellas (they didn't even own any). Instead, they used things like Arc'teryx waterproof parkas.

by teppeik

5/10/2026 at 6:11:13 PM

There's a really charming YouTube creator in the same vein, MUDA-ZUKURI. I had the honor of being smacked with a stack of cash by her "motivation machine".

https://youtube.com/@mudadukuri

by ozbonus

5/10/2026 at 5:16:21 PM

I was initially confused since the term "Chindogu" isn't actually that common in Japan, but it turns out it was an artistic movement led by Kenji Kawakami.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu

While they are humorous, it's a serious artistic endeavor at its core, so it's not exactly "laugh-out-loud" funny. I feel like there are much crazier inventions in Japan—I wish I could think of some specific examples to share right now, but nothing is coming to mind at the moment.

One "interesting" invention (that might have seemed a bit silly at first) is fan-cooled workwear. With Japan’s summer temperatures now constantly hitting 35°C (95°F), what started as a quirky idea has become an absolute necessity.

https://kuchoufuku.com/

There’s something inherently funny about the models in the link posing so seriously while wearing clothes that are completely puffed up with air.

by ushimitsudoki

5/10/2026 at 4:02:29 PM

I've seen everyone of these before. A couple of them are strangely practical such as the eyedropper glasses and the finger toothbrush (ideal for travelling).

by nephihaha

5/10/2026 at 7:08:27 PM

I've bought a similar finger brush for brushing my dog's teeth. He really hates toothbrushing so he doesn't make it easy to manipulate a regular toothbrush. But since I'm already holding his mouth open, a finger gets in there easier.

by wildzzz

5/10/2026 at 6:15:00 PM

I want that tie with the storage pockets. Take my money!

by Beestie

5/10/2026 at 2:53:09 PM

Butter stick would actually be great

by muststopmyths

5/10/2026 at 3:21:26 PM

Dropper Glasses are also useful. Elder people struggle to do that without help. They don’t look hygienic for the eyes though.

by ozgung

5/10/2026 at 4:03:50 PM

They certainly are. The finger toothbrush would be ideal for travelling.

by nephihaha