Meningslösa japanska uppfinningar ("Chindogu") är en av kontorshumorns hörnpelare. En artikel i Asia Times visar dock att fenomenets upphovsman har en rätt sympatisk filosofi bakom upptågen:

Kawakami himself [...] describe them as "invention dropouts", ideas that have broken free from "the suffocating historical dominance of conservative utility". [...] "I despise materialism and how everything is turned into a commodity. [...] Things that should belong to everyone are patented and turned into private property. I've never registered a patent and I never will because the world of patents is dirty, full of greed and competition. [...] I think my things show us our stupid obsession in Japan and America with making life as easy as we can with a new thing. Everybody has the ability to create. We just have to free our imaginations. The problem is that this society destroys our ability to think. We have to get this ability back"