While not quite as famous eccentric as Dr. NakaMats, Tanaka is fondly known as “the Thomas Edison of Japan.” All things considered, he’d probably rather be known as “the Nikola Tesla of Japan”, but it is what it is. Anyway, this Tanaka guy is a pretty hoopy frood. Let me tell you why.

The Early Life

Tanaka was born in present day Fukuoka prefecture in 1799 and was the eldest son of a skilled tortoiseshell craftsman. Watching his father constantly working on these intricate tortoiseshell ornaments instilled a great sense of creativity in young Tanaka.

At the age of eight, Tanaka invented what he called an “inkstone case with a secret lock.” The drawer required a cord to be twisted in just the right way in order to open it. He brought it to school with him and challenged his classmates to open the drawer. Many tried but none succeeded.

By the age of fourteen, Tanaka had already invented a loom. He succeeded in weaving beautiful designs into fabric with his creation. Before this, the looms were too simple to create such intricate and beautiful designs. People were starting to recognize Tanaka’s potential.

At twenty, he was making autonomous dolls powered by hydraulics (karakuri dolls). Our good friend Hashi (lost but not forgotten) wrote about these little wonders a while back. They’re really quite fascinating.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JV--AwLxiE']

These karakuri dolls were capable of relatively complex movements and were in high demand by the aristocrats, daimyo, and shogun. The style of the one in the video above is by far his most famous. Because Tanaka’s dolls were so impressive, he ended up performing all around Japan with them by the age of twenty-one.

Another interesting thing about the arrow shooting dolls of his was that some were actually programmed to miss one of its four shots. These dolls would make a happy motion when its arrow hit the mark and a look of sorrow when it missed. The video above doesn’t really highlight this, but just trust me on this one.

Since he was the eldest son, he was fated to take over the family business, but he convinced his father to let his younger brother take over things while he traveled around the country and pursued his dream of being an inventor. This is also about the time when people started referring to him as “the genius of mechanical wonders”.

Tanaka Hits His Stride

By his mid-thirties, mechanical doll shows had started to fall out of fashion so Tanaka relocated to Osaka where he tinkered with pneumatics, hydraulics, and various forms of lighting centering around canola oil. He invented the pocket candlestand (a portable candlestick that collapsed down to pocket size), and the long-burning lamp (an oil burning lamp with air-pressure pump fuel filler).

These long-burning lamps of his were roughly ten times brighter than a conventional candle and came with a glass globe to prevent flickering. Because of their incredible popularity, Tanaka went on to create seven different models. Tanaka catered to his customers’ needs and became both successful and popular as a result.

He later moved to Kyoto where he studied traditional Japanese mathematics, the calendar, and astronomy. While there, he invented a fire pump called “cloud dragon water” which used air pressure to shoot an adjustable stream of water up to thirty feet high. Like his lighting inventions, Tanaka went on to craft various iterations of this fire pump which were used for a wide variety of tasks.

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In his early fifties, Tanaka crafted what I believe to be his most impressive invention. He created the Myriad year clock. I’ve written about timepieces before, but this thing definitely takes the cake. It’s probably one of the most impressive clocks I’ve seen. It’s also been designated as a Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government.

The clock can show the time in seven ways (time of day, day of week, month, moon phase, Japanese time, Solar term) and consists of more than 1,000 parts which Tanaka made all by himself with the simplest of tools. It took more than three years for him to finish the assembly.

In 2004 the Japanese government attempted to craft a replica of Tanaka’s masterpiece. It took more than 100 engineers over six months to build it. Even so, they found it impossible to make exact copies of some parts which just goes to show how impressive an accomplishment the original was for Tanaka.

Since clocks are so awesome, crafting and innovating them around this time was considered one of the most impressive things an inventor could do. Tanaka produced many other ingenious mechanical timepieces such as the pillow clock and drum clock. He also created Japan’s first planetarium.

With the development of the sonno joi (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians) movement (see Sakamoto Ryoma), Kyoto became increasingly dangerous for people involved with foreign technology and influences. Therefore, Tanaka ended up moving to Saga in Kyushu where he started inventing bigger, more dangerous creations.

Tanaka’s War Machines

In Saga, Tanaka designed and built Japan’s first domestically made steam locomotive and steam warship. This is a pretty big change from dolls and clocks, but Tanaka had reference to a Dutch book on the matter and had also watched a Russian demonstration of a steam engine in Nagasaki. Even with this limited exposure to steam powered vehicles, Tanaka and his crew were able to build these massive machines. Pretty impressive.

He also did some work leading to the creation of a specialized furnace for casting iron in Saga which was used for producing Armstrong guns (see above). In his mid-sixties, he returned to his stomping grounds in Fukuoka prefecture and assisted in the development of various modern weapons.

While there, he also invented a vast array of non-weaponized inventions. These included a machine for irrigating fields at high elevations and Japan’s first artificial ice maker.

Old Age and Death

Six years after the Meiji Restoration and at the ripe old age of seventy-four, the spritely Tanaka was invited to make telegraphs in Tokyo. He soon relocated to Ginza, renting the second floor of a temple in what is now known as Roppongi.

This measly workshop of his eventually involved into his first and only company, Tanaka Engineering Works. This company was the first manufacturer of telegraph equipment in Japan.

In 1881, Tanaka died of old age at eighty-two. His son then took over Tanaka Engineering works. The name was changed to Shibaura Engineering Works in 1904, merged with Tokyo Denki in 1939, and then became known as Tokyo Shibaura Denki. More commonly, though, it was known as Toshiba. Tokyo Shibaura Denki. Get it?

Toshiba and Tanaka’s Legacy

Today Toshiba is a multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate with over 200,000 employees. Its products and services include information technology, communications equipment and systems, electronic components and materials, power systems, appliances, infrastructure systems, medical and office equipment, lighting, logistics, and laptops. They don’t make telegraphs anymore, though.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNBI1P4E388']

Google even made this in memory of the guy.

Even though it doesn’t carry the Tanaka name, Toshiba is still a living testament to the man that started it all, much like Thomas Edison and General Electric in the United States. He even got his own room in the Toshiba Science museum.

So tell me, how do you think Tanaka here stacks up to the likes of Edison? Does he deserve to be called the “Thomas Edison of Japan”? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Bonus Wallpapers

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Sites Referenced:
Toshiba Museum
Wikipedia

From left to right: Dr. NakaMats, Dr. NakaMats.

Who would you say is the greatest inventor of all time? It’s kind of a tricky question. When you say “inventor,” most people think of Thomas Edison, or those late night infomercials that supposedly help aspiring inventors patent their creations. I just found out the other day that the greatest inventor of all time is not only alive, but still working hard in Japan. His name? Yoshiro Nakamatsu:

The Greatest Inventor of All Time

Thomas Edison I’m happy for you, imma let you finish, but Dr. NakaMats is one of the greatest inventors of all time!

He recently caught my attention when I saw a trailer for a documentary about Japan’s foremost inventor, “The Invention of Dr. NakaMats”:

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_w9XMTJnpM']

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu prefers to be called Dr. NakaMats. He says that an eight letter name is easier to remember than a nine letter name, but don’t ask me why he capitalizes the M. The enigmatic octogenarian inventor is a bit of a minor celebrity, dressing in extravagant suits, and is the host of the World Genius Convention. He even has his own theme song! Who exactly is this strange man? How did he get to where he is today?

The House That Floppy Disk Built

One of his greatest claims to fame is the invention of the floppy disk (remember those?) more than fifty years ago. He’s even made a floppy disk the front gate to his house:

His house, a den of invention, looks more like a funhouse than your typical Japanese home. Full of fake doors, a gold-plated bathroom (he claims that the gold blocks out all outside distractions), and a showroom of all of his inventions, Dr. NakaMats’ house is probably one of the coolest places in all of Japan.

Go inside and you’ll find a 60 year history of the inventions of the greatest inventor of all time. He claims that his first invention came when he was just five years old, and he’ll be happy to show you a picture of a kindergarten-age Dr. NakaMats with his first invention. He says he gets his best thinking done in his pool, where he jots down flashes of inspiration on a waterproof pencil and notepad – his own invention, of course. Dr. NakaMats might spend a few minutes relaxing in Cerebrex, a recliner of his own creation which he claims a “130% increase of all power,” whatever that means.

Cerebrex, hard at work

You Are What You Eat

Dr. NakaMats taken a picture of every meal he’s eaten for over thirty years, which isn’t as impressive as you may think because he only eats one meal a day. He claims that through his daily regimen of diet and exercise, he will live to the ripe old age of 144.

Dr. NakaMats has also tried his hand at cooking, inventing his own line of supposedly brain-enhancing foods. The Travel Channel show Bizarre Food, in its visit to Japan, paid Dr. NakaMats a visit and sampled some of his brain food, including patented crackers and curry filled with “nano particles.”

Is He For Real?

Trust me baby, I’m a doctor

However, some of Dr. NakaMats’ claims seem a little questionable. IBM says that it invented the floppy disk on its own with no help from the good doctor. And a lot of his claims – like that he was the guest of honor at a dinner party thrown by the U.S. president, that cities around the world celebrate “Dr. NakaMats Day,” or that he has patented the most inventions of any person ever – are all pretty false.

But that hasn’t stopped Dr. NakaMats from continuing to experiment, invent and just do his own thing. Dr. NakaMats was a recipient of the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize, a prize given out every year for weird, off-the-wall unusual scientific discoveries, for his ongoing documentation about the food he eats. He’ll be happy to show off his collection of trophies and awards, but you might not want to quiz him about their validity.

All that being said, though, he is the proud owner of many patents and inventions. Here are some of the coolest ones.

Underwater Pencil and Notepad

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As I said before, Dr. NakaMats gets some of his best thinking done underwater. His theory is that too much oxygen is bad for the brain, and that the best insight comes when your brain is so oxygen-deprived that you’re 0.5 seconds away from dying. He also believes that these flashes of insight are temporary, and you have to write them down immediately or they’ll slip away. Hence, he invented his own waterproof pencil and notepad so he could jot down those brilliant ideas before they disappear

Self-Defense Wig

Have you ever been walking alone down a dark street late at night, and wished that you had something to keep you safe? Something like mace, or a taser, or maybe martial arts lessons? Dr. NakaMats can do you one better. His self-defense wig can protect you from any potential attackers, as long as you’re wearing the hair piece. As the patent application above shows, it’s an easy and effective tool to stopping assailants dead in their tracks. Well, maybe not, but it’s kind of nifty anyway.

Pyon Pyon Flying Shoes

This is probably the most fun invention Dr. NakaMats has ever created. These “Pyon Pyon” shoes can makes you bound across distances with the greatest of ease, or jump really high like the good doctor above is doing. It looks like a lot of fun, and it can be yours for the low, low price of $180 on Dr. NakaMats’ site.

Golf Putter

Some people learn game theory, I want to learn grip theory

Dr. NakaMats will be the first person to tell you that he’s pretty bad at golf. But while some people might improve their golf game with long hours of practice on the links, Dr. NakaMats did what he does best: invented a solution. A different grip and a different head supposedly make it much easier to putt than with a normal putter.

Dr. NakaMats might not have the most patents of anyone in the history of the world, and his inventions might not be the most practical, but in my book he’s still one of the coolest, weirdest inventors of all time.

P.S.: You can follow Dr. NakaMats on Twitter or better yet, you should follow Tofugu on Twitter if you aren’t already!