Chindogu: International Chindogu Society

Hey, buccaroos! Yes, this is the ONE AND ONLY official website of the International Chindogu Society. Do you know what a chindogu is? You can always look it up. It's in a number of English language dictionaries now (try www.wordiq.com) And that's more than you can say for most Japanese words. But if you don't want to look it up, allow us to bring you up to speed. Suppose you wanted to, say, create a tool that would prevent you from losing your keys all the time. You might wonder about how to do it and one idea you might stumble upon is that you lose your keys because they're small and if you had a REALLY BIG key holder, say the size of a baseball bat, you'd never lose your keys because all you'd have to do is check around the room looking for the baseball bat. Then it might occur to you that it's going to be hard to carry a baseball bat with you at all times and it might invite various types of trouble when unlocking doors, so you opt for magnetic strip to hang your keys as soon as you walk in the house. The second idea, perhaps you'll agree, was useful. (Hopefully. If not, maybe you wonder about something you can build to remind you to put your keys on the strip. Like a sign. Only it would have to be a big sign. Perhaps the size of a baseball bat.) Meanwhile, the first idea wasn't quite useless--it would have worked--but it's usefulness was undone by something that created a new problem. So it was unuseless. But now that you think back upon the first idea, you realize it was funny in a sad kind of way. And you decide that, now that you have some time, you can build it and it could be a sort of three dimension joke to show to people. Only where did you put the keys to the work shed? This is what a chindogu is. A tool that doesn't quite improve our lives but it fun to look at because it's really weird. "Dogu" is the Japanese word for tool and "chin" might be best translated as "really weird." If this helps you to better understand what the term chindogu means, then this text was useful. If not...whatever, you got to exercise your eyes. And publishers of the Merrium-Webster's dictionary, should you happen to be reading this, it might interest you to know that "chindogu" has been in popular use for over 20 years now in the English speaking word. Perhaps you could get with the program. Thanks. Dan Papia President, International Chindogu Society

OPERATION PATRIOTIC TOILET SEAT by Titus North A drunken late-night promenade through a former CIA Director's living room makes young Joe Retard a suspect in an international intrigue involving a high-tech spy toilet seat. The U.S. military chases Joe to the ends of the earth in an effort to keep a lid on their toilet seat.

A Nihilistic punk star in a tropical paradise sees his reputation grow all the while alcohol, drugs, and sex sap his ability to keep his head above water. This is the definitive account of the Honolulu punk scene of the 1980's.

Both available at enlightened-pyramid

some images from 99 or 101 unuseless Japanese inventions by Kenji Kawakami, W.W. Norton