It still amazes me the amount of different weird drinks that are sold in vending machines on the streets in Japan. It’s also astounding the rate at what new drinks appear and disappear on the market; it seems like the competition is really stiff. For example, Pepsi, in a desperate movement released the Cucumber Pepsi to the market, a truly legendary drink.
Which one of these drinks would you buy?
Inago means grasshopper in Japanese. It is a Japanese “delicacy” that is usually served in some restaurants in certain prefectures, most of all in rural areas where I suppose they can be captured and cooked while they are fresh. The other day I found a stall specialized in inago, いなご, in downtown Tokyo. The man selling grasshoppers was very proud of his grasshopers and was recommending different kinds to the passers-by. Besides grasshoppers, he was also selling dry fish, shrimps and clams, a quite curious mix of groceries.
Yamagata grasshoppers just below the stallkeeper.
Grasshoppers on the left, the rest is dry frish and shrimps.
Some months ago I found out about Doctor Nakamatsu, also known as Dr. NakaMats. He is extremely popular in Japan but somehow I had never heard of him before. Yoshiro Nakamatsu is a 81 year old Japanese inventor who holds the world record for number of inventions with over 3,000 patents, more than 3 times the amount that Thomas Edison achieved in his life. Most of his first patents were licensed by IBM and were key to the development of the floppy disk. He also holds patents related to the first digital watches and music synthesizers; as a matter of fact, Casio recognizes him as the inventor of the digital watch. Moreover, he has written more than 80 books and says he intends to have created more than 7000 patents-inventions by the time he dies.
Among his three thousand inventions he has some curious ones. For example these flying shoes called PyonPyon that can make you jump higher and run faster:
More details about the PyonPyon shoes here
He has also invented a sofa to take naps that helps to energize the brain; it is called the “Cerebrex” and he says that he uses it every day and helps him to be able to invent even more things:
More details about the Cerebrex sofa here
Another curious thing about Nakamatsu is that he has been taking pictures of everything he eats for the last 35 years and writes down everyday how he feels so he can see the effects of what he eats on his mood and state of mind. This study about the food he has eaten for more than three decades enabled him to win the Ig Nobel prize in 2007. Moreover, he has declared himself eligible to be the Governor of Tokyo four times; he has never won but the last time he got more than 100,000 votes.
Roy sent me this picture of Doctor Nakamatsu van in the last electoral campaign.
His most popular invention in Japan is the “Love Jet”, some kind of spray to heighten sexual stimulation and combat male impotency. Nakamatsu says that he has put a lot of effort in this invention because he wants to help Japan’s economy, he wants to help Japanese couples to have more children and restore the population pyramid that now is totally upside down. The interesting thing about the Love Jet is that Dr. Nakamatsu sells the product cheaper than it costs to produce; he says he does it to help the country, that he didn’t invent the Love Jet to make money. If you are interested you can buy it here.
Dr. Nakamatsu advertising his solution for Japan’s birth rate problem, the “Love Jet”.
A hair growth product, another invention by Nakamatsu.
In this vídeo Nakamatsu explains some of his methods to maintain a creative mind. He follows a strict diet, most of the vitamin complexes he uses have been invented by him, he sleeps four hours a day, he uses the Cerebrex to sleep, he does sport regularly, and the most funny thing is that to “create new ideas” he submerges himself in a swimming pool with a notepad:
He says that he comes up with more ideas underwater, most of them when he has almost no air in his lungs.
Nakamatsu showing off his inventions in the British television.
Would you try the PyonPyon flying shoes, the Love Jet or the Cerebrex sofa? Would you write your ideas underwater? By the way, the pen and notepad to write underwater are also an invention by Doctor Nakamatsu!