Weighing in at 1,200 pounds, the safety-yellow vehicle resembles a cute sci-fi prop, the mutant child of a school bus and a pickup truck. Daihatsu of Japan calls it the Midget II, and an apt name it is. It has no leg room, elbow room or passenger room, for that matter: just a driver’s seat and fewer frills than a Model T.
Don’t expect the Midget II to hit the streets of Chicago anytime soon. “Streets are much smaller in Japan; parking is much harder,” said John Zukowsky, curator of architecture for the Art Institute of Chicago. “And in Japan, you can’t own a car unless you have a parking space. Before you get a car, you have to prove that you can park it.”
Then again, maybe it would sell in Lincoln Park.
The Midget II is among more than two dozen gadgets, gizmos and innovations highlighted by the Art Institute’s “Japan 2000: Design for the Japanese Public.” The exhibit, which opened Saturday and runs through Labor Day, showcases winners from the Japanese government’s Good Design Selection System, also known as “G-Mark.”
“The trend in G-Mark is to prepare products for the home market,” Zukowsky said. And the annual prizes encourage companies to create objects that reflect needs and tastes unique to the Japanese.
Case in point: automated home toilets. They never really caught on in America, but they’re popular in Japan, where roughly one in three households has one. Japanese society prides itself on cleanliness. “They have showrooms where you can go pick out the toilet,” Zukowsky said.
The two toilets on display — Toto’s Wash-Let and Neorest Ex-II — cleanse and dry the user. One has a control panel and several knobs to calibrate spray and heat levels (which might confuse the average American who still hasn’t figured out how to program a VCR).
Still, a good number of the exhibit items have found favor in the U.S., or might eventually make their way here. One likely candidate is the software-designed Magic Square, perfectly suited for anyone who has goofed up while laying carpet or tile. “The idea behind this is that the squares can be rearranged in certain ways, in any direction, and you still have a pattern,” said Daniel Perez, an assistant designer for the exhibit who works for Hirano Design International.
Miniaturization runs as a consistent theme in Japanese design, and in a quest to bring technology down to size designers have unveiled some incredible shrinking wonders. Canon’s palm-sized digital camera plugs straight into a laptop. A mobile phone by NTT weighs less than four ounces and measures about twice the size of a disposable lighter. And a Sony Handycam SC55, measuring a scant 5 1/2 x 4 inches, can record sound in hi-fi stereo.
Even musical instruments can be made smaller. In Japan, where houses are compact and close together, pounding on a conventional drum kit can present multiple headaches. But Yamaha’s Silent Session drum set takes up less than a third of the space of regular drums, and rubber pads convert stick hits into sampled sounds the player hears via headphones.
On the experimental side, Yamaha’s Miburi resembles a fencing outfit more than a musicmaker. Here’s how it works: Instead of dancing to music, the Miburi player turns dance into music. Winner of a 1996 G-Mark, the Miburi employs a costume equipped with sensors through which the user controls tone, volume and rhythm through body movement.
Like the Midget II, Yamaha’s Pas adapts a traditional design to serve specific transportation needs. Bicycles are much-used in Japan, and the Pas looks like a conventional two-wheeler. But underneath the seat is a computerized electric motor; the motor kicks on when the rider approaches a hill or a stiff headwind, giving an extra power boost. The cycle has been well received, especially among the elderly.
Computers also guide Hitachi’s automated mower, an egg-yolk shaped contraption used for trimming the grass at sports stadiums (thus keeping labor costs low). Its thick safety bumpers come equipped with sensors, and the machine comes to a halt if it comes in contact with any kind of obstacle.
Then there are those housewares and fashion items that despite containing no fancy microprocessors are still on the cusp of innovation. The focal point of Motomi Kawakami’s dressing table is a striking oval mirror suspended by a single pole that runs through a set of drawers and widens at the base to give structural support. Though sleek and crisply modern in look, the desk draws on a tradition of Shizuoka-city furniture design that dates back almost four centuries.
For the time- and fashion-conscious traveler, nothing comes close to the titanium-frame Chaos wristwatch designed by Masayuki Kurokawa. The watch, Zukowsky pointed out, symbolizes a new age of unisex fashion, internationalism, concern for materials and a penchant for the wild look.
While no one can be two places at one time, the Chaos allows the wearer to track the time in two places at once. “It’s for when you travel,” Zukowsky said. “The home time is the large face, and the traveling time is the small face. That’s something that could easily be introduced into this market.”
