If you've ever fallen asleep on the subway and missed your stop -- or felt you had to stay awake so that you DIDN'T miss your stop -- you've realized that it would be great if you could communicate to the other commuters that they should wake you at a certain time, when approaching a certain station. Japan has got you covered, having created a mask with an LED display that indicates the station at which you should be awakened from your sweet subway slumber.
Of course, the device is too expensive for the casual consumer, and indicating that you're asleep on the subway can also make you more vulnerable to pickpocketing, theft, and other lurking dangers of the subterranean transportation system. But the Japanese can't be expected to troubleshoot everything...
This is what's known as a "chindogu" -- the modern Japanese art of wacky, but not necessarily practical ideas. Two versions of this actually appeared in 1995's "101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions" (pages 143 and 157)
I know, 'cause I own the goofy book and the sequel.
See: http://www.chindogu.com/chindogu/chin7.html
Posted by: Simon | October 20, 2008 at 05:35 PM