Literally translated, chindōgu means unusual (珍, chin) tool (道具, dōgu). The term was coined by Kenji Kawakami, a former editor and contributor to the Japanese home-shopping magazine "Mail Order Life." In the magazine, Kenji used his spare pages to showcase several bizarre prototypes for products. He named these gadgets “chindōgu”; Kawakami himself said that a more appropriate translation than "unusual tool" is "weird tool". This special category of inventions subsequently became familiar to the Japanese people.

Dan Papia then introduced it to the English-speaking world and popularized it as a monthly feature in his magazine, Tokyo Journal, encouraging readers to send in ideas. In 1995, Kawakami and Papia collaborated on the English language book 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions: The Art of Chindōgu. Most classic chindogu products are collected in the book. Many examples display a sense of humor in the way they are used. Examples from the books include:

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• A combined household duster and cocktail-shaker, for the housewife who wants to reward herself as she is going along.

• The all-day tissue dispenser, which is a toilet roll fixed on top of a hat, for hay fever sufferers.

• Duster slippers for cats, so they can help out with the housework.

• The all-over plastic bathing suit, to enable people who suffer from aquaphobia to swim without coming into contact with water.

• The baby mop, an outfit worn by babies, so that as they crawl around, the floor is cleaned.

• The selfie stick, which was featured in a 1995 book of "101 Un-Useless Japanese Inventions". While dismissed as a "useless invention" at the time, it later gained global popularity in the 21st century.