Wow, an interview with Kenji Kawakami, that 'Chindogu' guy

(((Thanks, Underwire! I've been a chindogu fan for years.)))

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/01/index.html

http://pingmag.jp/2008/01/11/chindougu/

Link: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » Chindogu: Form or Function?.

..."I actually have made the “Chindogu Ten Commandments,” which are:

A chindogu must not actually be used

It must have some function.

It must have an anarchic element.

It must be a tool for everyday life.

It must not actually be put on the market.

It must not be only for the purpose of humor.

It must not be for black humor.

“Dirty” jokes are forbidden.

It must not be for profit.

It must be usable internationally.

"Even before starting to make chindogu, I have been thinking about these “ten commandments” since my days in the student movements of the 1960s. I first came up with with chindogu as a special project for a magazine, so I was not too concerned about how people would receive them. But actually, I think of chindogu as “an intellectual game to stimulate anarchic minds,” or a physical manifestation of my way of thinking...."