I have tested Love Jet on 10,000 women

November 21, 2012 2:16 PM

Meet the most famous inventor you’ve never heard of – whose greatest invention may be himself.
posted by juv3nal (11 comments total)

I love this guy because this guy clearly loves being alive and being himself. There's a great documentary on him on Netflix and, IIRC, he appeared on an episode of No Reservations. Now, my favorite scene of the documentary was when he was accepting an award, the nature of which escapes me at the moment. Dr. NakaMats stepped up to the podium and the full text of the speech follows:

"Life should be long. Speech should be short."

Exeunt.
posted by griphus at 2:19 PM on November 21, 2012 [11 favorites]

> His genius for self-promotion has not always endeared him to his contemporaries. “Real inventions open our hearts and minds, enrich our lives, bring us closer together,” says countryman Kenji Kawakami, the anarchic founder of chindogu—intentionally silly and impractical creations that are not useful, patented or for sale. “Dr. NakaMats is all about money and fame and ego.”

A movie about a battle royale between these two guys would be awesome.
posted by ardgedee at 3:46 PM on November 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

His cool plan to live to be 140+ reminds me of my own father in law, who is now 85 and just bought a puppy. When the kids asked if that was such a good idea he calmly replied that they shouldn't worry because he plans to live to 100.
posted by localroger at 3:52 PM on November 21, 2012

From the article (emphasis mine): Among his other creations (he will earnestly tell you) are the CD, the DVD, the fax machine, the taxi meter, the digital watch, the karaoke machine, CinemaScope, [...]

Huh. Here's a US patent for a taximeter type device granted to one Wilhelm Bruhn (who is generally credited with its invention) dated to 1916, 12 years before this guy was born. Various sources seem to date the actual invention of the taximeter to the 1890s.

Maybe he should have stuck to claiming credit for stuff invented in his lifetime?
posted by mhum at 4:23 PM on November 21, 2012

Without knowing the design Nakamatsu patented, we don't know whether it's a totally original design or he simply secured the Japanese patent on the original design, changing it enough to ensure it bears up to a challenge.

But yeah, I'm thinking of all those 1930s and 1940s movies with scenes where somebody tells a cabbie to keep the meter running. They probably all predate his patent.
posted by ardgedee at 4:43 PM on November 21, 2012

That's all okay, since I got the original patent on the patent, which I also used to patent inventors...
posted by Samizdata at 4:49 PM on November 21, 2012

What a delightful lunatic this guy seems to be!

Dr. NakaMats keeps his intellect free by following a strict daily routine. Every night in his NakaPenthouse, he retires to the Calm Room, which is actually a bathroom tiled in 24-karat gold. “The gold blocks out radio waves and television signals that are harmful to imagination,” he says. The Calm Room was built without nails because “nails reflect thinking.”

After sitting calmly on the toilet for a spell, surrounded by running water, he moves to the Dynamic Room—actually, an elevator—in which Beethoven serenades him.

Dr. NakaMats’ greatest notions tend to surface on long underwater swims. “If you have too much oxygen in your brain, inspiration will not strike,” he cautions. “To starve the brain of oxygen, you must dive deep and allow the water pressure to fill the brain with blood.” He holds his breath as long as he can. “Zero-point-five seconds before death, I visualize an invention,” Dr. NakaMats says. Eureka! He jots the thought on a proprietary waterproof notepad and floats upward.

“Zero-point-five seconds before death, I visualize an invention” indeed. How is this dude not, like, an anime character?
posted by hap_hazard at 9:25 PM on November 21, 2012

I am sad that it would take me alot of effort to change my MeFi name to NakaMats...but since I invented MeFi I don't have to worry.
posted by salishsea at 11:44 PM on November 21, 2012

Oh c'mon - the best lines in the entire article were the closing ones:

... "I have tested LoveJet on 10,000 women," Dr. NakaMats said solemnly as he directed off to the NakaBedroom. "I do not do the sex, I just check the meters." ....

This guy is awesome, why have I never heard about him before?
posted by jkaczor at 8:55 AM on November 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: I do not do the sex. I just check the meters.
posted by salishsea at 1:33 PM on November 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

so apparently, there's a previously from 2007.
posted by juv3nal at 1:26 PM on November 30, 2012