15 Unique And Useful Gadgets You Can Only Find In Japan

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After World War II, Japan underwent some serious changes, resulting in a robust economy driven largely by tech. As a result, some of the most interesting gadgets ever designed and sold to the public are made in Japan, and unless you're aware of them, odds are you'll never lay a hand on some of the more interesting and unique or useful Japanese tech.

We live in an interconnected world, so there aren't many products that you can't buy, including those from Japan. Still, the Western world isn't entirely up to date on all of the useful and unique gadgets available in Japan. That limits consumers somewhat, which is unfortunate given the large number of fun gadgets sold in Japan.

There's even an entire concept called Chindōgu, a practice of creating gadgets that fix problems while creating more issues than they solve. That's more of a fun artform than a real gadget you'd want to purchase. Fortunately, there are many more gadgets that you can buy in Japan, or, if you're lucky and know enough about them, you can buy and have them shipped to you anywhere in the world. 

If you've ever been out and about in the world on an adventure and realized you need to do a wash, there's a Japanese gadget for that. While most hotels have facilities guests can use, you won't need them with the Minimal Wash Muro Portable Washing Machine, which retails for around $48.

This little gadget is a legit washing machine, though you'll need a bucket or sink to use it. All you need to do is attach the Minimal Wash Muro to the side of a bucket or sink and let it take care of the wash. It features four settings covering delicates and heavy-duty cleaning for the grimiest clothing. Essentially, it's a small motor that works to manipulate the water while taking care of whatever clothing you need cleaned.

The device is relatively small, weighing only 5.9 ounces, and it consumes 10 watts of power. It comes with a controller, a carry bag, and a USB adapter. The instructions are in Japanese; however, the device is intuitive enough that you can figure it out regardless of what language you speak.

A familiar desk accessory is one that keeps your coffee warm beside your desk. That's all well and good, but what about keeping a drink cold instead? For something like that, you'll need to look to Japan for the Thanko Super Cold Box for Drinks.

There are similar products in the States, but for something truly Japanese, the Thanko Super Cold Box for Drinks is ideal. It's suitable for drinks that come in a box like the one pictured. That said, despite its boxy shape, it can cool bottles as well. The Thanko Super Cold Box for Drinks costs $58 and is easy to use.

To cool your drink carton or plastic bottle, all you need to do is place it inside and turn it on. The fan is quiet, emitting only 48 dB of sound, and the whole thing weighs about a pound. It cools drinks to a temperature range of 32 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the ambient conditions. The instructions are all in Japanese, though the retailer describes the device as easy to use.

You know how you can smell another person's BO, but every time you try to sniff yourself, it's hard to tell? That's because we become habituated to our own scent after being exposed to it constantly, making us less aware of our own odor.

If this is a problem you have, you can always pick up the Konica Minolta Kunkun Body Odor Checker, which is an electronic device made by a major printer brand that checks you for BO. The company describes the $334 device as the first of its kind and works via an app on your iOS or Android phone. The device was developed in response to concerns about "sumehara," a Japanese term for smell harassment.

If you have your handy Konica Minolta Kunkun Body Odor Checker, you no longer have to guess whether your body odor is noticeable to others. Just use it on yourself, and it will discreetly let you know your odor readings, making it potentially useful in office settings where BO can be a concern.

If there's one thing you don't need to travel to Japan to buy, it's "Star Wars" merchandise. The franchise has more than enough available in and outside of the United States, but that doesn't mean that everything is found in the West. One product that's exclusive to Japan is the Star Wars Helmet Snack Dispenser, which comes in two versions: a Darth Vader helmet or a Stormtrooper helmet.

This product is exactly what it looks like: It holds snacks, and when you place your hand beneath the helmet, whatever's inside shoots out. The device is battery-powered and plays various phrases in Japanese. The instructions are also in Japanese, but the retailer describes it as easy to use.

The types of snacks are somewhat limited to what can fit inside the dispenser, but it's perfect for nuts, Chex Mix, M&Ms, and other small snacks and candies. The Star Wars Helmet Snack Dispenser features a solo and party mode, so the device, which costs $63, is designed for single use or to entertain and feed a group of friends who love snacks and "Star Wars."

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide health concerns, most people did what medical professionals advised and masked up. If you wanted to go out in public, you needed to wear a mask, but not every face mask is comfortable, and they can often make your face hot by trapping your breath, which can fog your sunglasses or glasses if you wear them.

Something that could have benefited everyone is the Face Mask Air Fan, which is exactly what it sounds like. The face-mask cooling device fits into the palm of your hand and clips to the inside of your mask. It's a small fan that not only keeps your face cool while wearing a mask, but it also improves breathability.

For only $22, you can add this small fan to your collection of masks, and the next time you're wearing a mask, clip it on and enjoy the cool breeze it provides. The Face Mask Air Fan is charged via a USB cable, which takes five hours, and it functions for 3.5 hours in rhythm mode on a full charge, making it one of the most practical Japanese gadgets on the market.

While Sony is an international company that ships its products throughout the world, some are designed specifically for the Japanese market. Case in point, the Sony Huis E-Paper Remote Controller, which retails for $229.99, functions like any universal remote, though its screen is customizable and uses e-paper.

The company describes the first-of-its-kind remote as one that is used to create personalized remote layouts on the screen. This enables the user to arrange buttons wherever they want with different options for how they appear. It works with consumer electronics made by more than 150 manufacturers and is easy to set up and use. The remote's customization is its greatest feature, and because it uses e-paper, it has an exceptional battery life.

Most remotes of this kind feature an LCD display, but the Huis remote features a 4.7-inch e-paper touchscreen. When it was released, the remote didn't have support for other languages, but if you purchase one now, it fully supports English, making it a fun and useful Japanese gadget that doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese to use.

If you've been to a Japanese restaurant where low tables require you to sit on the ground, you might know the danger of getting cold feet, which has nothing to do with getting married. Sitting at those low tables can leave your feet feeling chilly, which is why the Wooden Kotatsu Table Foot Heater is a useful Japanese product that retails for around $320.

The product doesn't include the blanket seen in the picture, but it's a perfect addition. The table features a small heater that sits beneath the top in the center. Once it's turned on, anyone whose feet are below it will enjoy a toasty evening at the dinner table.

Adding a blanket helps the table retain heat by trapping the warm air underneath. While you can purchase kotatsu tables in the United States, including on Amazon, this particular model cannot be shipped to Europe. The Shoran model is also 100V, and the retailer recommends using a converter for overseas use.

Even if you've never been to Japan, you've likely heard of Japanese toilets and how they differ from those in other countries. Japan takes its toilet time very seriously, which is why some toilets cost thousands of dollars. Many are toilets with built-in bidet functions, but some have far more features designed to make your toilet time incredibly comfortable.

Japan has some of the most high-tech bathrooms in the world because of its toilets, which can play music, warm the seat, spray water at various speeds, and more. When you're traveling in Japan and come across one of these fantastic toilets, you might have some issues using them if you're unfamiliar with the language because the controls can sometimes be confusing.

Some feature English text, and many have icons that make it clear how to use them. These icons indicate functions such as heated seats, warm water, powered deodorizers, water pressure adjustments, and more. That said, if you want to use one properly without guessing at some of the buttons, there are online guides, and Google Translate works wonders in a pinch. Western versions exist, like this one on Amazon, but they're incomparable to the Japanese variety.

Japan is well known for its cuisine, and one of the best street foods you'll find in the country is takoyaki, which translates to "grilled octopus." These are ball-shaped foods coated in a batter that are cooked in a special hemispherical pan. They're incredibly popular in Japan, but also outside the nation, as they're now sold in restaurants and supermarkets around the world.

Now you can make takoyaki yourself at home with the Takoyaki Super Entako Flame Octopus Portable Oven. Granted, you'll need your own recipes to make takoyaki with the oven, but with the specially molded pan, cooking them won't be an issue, and they're perfect for parties or small get-togethers.

The gas-powered oven features a specially molded pan that can cook 20 takoyaki balls at the same time, and it costs $249 to add to your kitchen collection of food cookers. The oven weighs 4.85 lbs. and measures 13.7 x 9.1 x 5.5 inches, and uses small gas cartridges for fuel, which you can purchase at your local Home Depot, Lowe's, and other similar stores.

It used to be that you had to go to your local science museum's planetarium to take a trip through the cosmos, but no more. Sega Toys has created the Homestar Indoor Planetarium to bring the universe into your home. If you've been to a planetarium, you've likely noticed the large device in the center of the room that projects everything onto the domed ceiling.

That's essentially what the Sega Toys Homestar Planetarium is, only it's been reduced in size to a small projector that sits atop a desk or table. It has the capability to project 60,000 individual stars. Sega Toys describes the Homestar Flux system as the most powerful home planetarium ever made, and you can purchase one for around $220.

On its own, the Homestar projects a ton of imagery onto your ceiling, but if you want more, Sega Toys offers compatible discs loaded with views from different locations on Earth. Each additional disc costs $29, and there are many to choose from. While Sega Toys initially launched the Homestar line in Japan, you can now purchase it online in most countries.

There are countless robot vacuum cleaners on the market, and they're available in most countries around the world. While they're great for cleaning your floors without much maintenance or work, there's another fun option available in Japan via the Otona no Kagaku Mini Robot Vacuum Cleaner Kit, which costs $36.

The Otona no Kagaku Mini Robot Vacuum Cleaner Kit lets you not only have a small robotic vacuum, but you get to build it first. The complex device is easily constructed and can go from the packaging to completion relatively quickly via the enclosed instructions, which are designed for children and adults who love putting together robots.

The instructions are in Japanese, but if you don't understand the language, the instruction booklet features illustrations to guide you through the steps, or you can follow along in this video. Once completed, the small cleaner is ideal for keeping your desk neat and tidy. It's a small cleaner, weighing just 6 oz, so it's not ideal for keeping your floors clean.

If you've ever been to Japan and gone shopping, odds are you found more than a few stationery stores. They're all over the place in big cities like Tokyo, and there are all kinds of products you can buy. One of the more interesting things you'll find in various stores is Pilot's line of Frixion Erasable Pens, which are now available outside of Japan.

These aren't like the erasable pens that were somewhat popular in the 1980s. Instead, Frixion Erasable Pens include highlighters, ballpoint, and gel pens that write well and are all erasable. The erasable nature of the line involves friction, hence the name, and the pens use a special type of thermo-sensitive ink.

When you use the eraser to remove a mark, it creates friction, heating the ink up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This results in the ink becoming invisible, yet still remaining on the page, until it's exposed to temperatures below 14 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point it may reappear. Given that most offices are a bit warmer than that, whatever marks you remove via the Frixion Erasable Pens will generally remain hidden.

Japan has long been one of the leading manufacturers of robots, whether it's the latest industrial robot or a complex toy that's designed to entertain children. One such Japanese product is the Kimit Robot Ragdoll Cat, which is a robotic cat that reacts to being petted by purring and has many of the adorable features of a real cat, but without the desire to knock things off of high shelves.

As you can imagine, these aren't inexpensive, and you'll have to shell out $364 to add one of these little cats to your home. They're made by Sega Toys, and they're full of functions. The cat's eyes respond to light as well as to movement, so they can react when you're near it.

Inside the Kimit Robot Ragdoll Cat are electronics and complex processors that incorporate movements and actions from more than 100 real cats to make the cuddly gadget appear as realistic as possible. Basically, the Kimit Robot Ragdoll Cat is marketed as a cat that does all the good stuff a real one does, but without the temperament or need for a litter box.

If you've ever had a bowl of soup or cup of tea that was too hot, there's a Japanese gadget designed for you. The Life on Cup and Bowl Cooling Fan is one of many similar products that solve the age-old problem of incredibly hot liquids. It's an adorable little person-shaped fan that literally hangs out on the side of a bowl or cup.

The fan blows on whatever's inside, cooling it by up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in only five minutes. This cools everything from your noodles to your coffee, and it's an incredibly practical gadget. It's posable in various ways, and it auto-shuts off after 10 minutes, preserving its charge, which lasts around one hour.

While the Life on Cup and Bowl Cooling Fan is certainly cute, as many Japanese products are, it's not unique. There are countless designs of similar food-cooling products that you can only find in Japan. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging in price from the reasonable cost of $22 you'd pay for this one to much more for more robust options.

Records entertained the world for years, but were eventually replaced by different media. For those who love vinyl, it never truly went away, and thanks largely to DJs, modern recording artists continue to release their albums as records. This nostalgic medium has spawned many fans, and now you can make your own records with the Gakken Otona No Kagaku Toy Record Maker.

The gadget, which sells for $115, is a mini record-making kit and player that actually makes real records. They're smaller than a standard 45 rpm record, so you can only record a few minutes of audio onto them, but anyone who loves records would likely enjoy getting their hands on one of these kits.

You use it in conjunction with your smartphone to cut your own vinyl, so it has a modern twist. It takes around one hour to assemble the kit, and you can record on both the A and B sides of the record. The whole thing weighs only 20 oz, and the directions are in Japanese and English, featuring detailed illustrations to help you throughout the build process.