Missed my dentist appointment last week because of this damn cold. So I visited Dr. Suzuki this afternoon.
He has a comfy little pillow on the chair, and when I asked about it he told me his tales of woe as an inventor.
He needed a comfy little pillow, so he asked Tempur if they could make one, but they told him they couldn't make on that small. So he looked all around and ended up making his own little down pillow. And now, Tempur has a little pillow on the market, just like the one he asked them to make!
But wait there's more: Dr. Suzuki loves to eat stinky cheese. But the next day, he smells how bad his own breath is, and he realizes if he can smell his own bad breath, it must really be unpleasant for others. So after some research he discovered that parsley seeds work well to neutralize the stinkiness. He asked his friend who worked at a capsule making company to make a couple of samples, and he shopped them around to convenience stores and whatnot, only to be told he was daft if he thought anyone would buy such a product. Now, 20 years later, no young females would be caught dead without some Breathcare" capsules in her pocketbook.
And his latest sob-story: there's a certain rate at which administering novacaine from a syringe does not hurt; has to do with the pressure exerted on the plunger and therefore the rate and which the novacaine flows into the gums. However, it's very difficult for a dentist to work the plunger with his thumb to maintain just the right amount of pressure to keep the application of novacaine painless. So Dr. Suzuki figured that putting a simple gear/clutch on the syringe could regulate the speed at which the plunger depresses, maintaining a steady flow and therefore keeping the perfect, painless pressure constant. He told a couple of friends, made some mockups...and now the biggest medical supply maker has one on the market!
I told him next time he has a great idea, he should write it down and send it immediately to Hiroko, who will file for a patent and if necessary assemble the necessary funding to establish the business or at least license the patent.
On my way home I swung through Bic Camera in Shibuya and picked up a Linksys wireless DSL router. Marked 22,000 yen, but the guy rang it up as 15,980 yen! Score!
After the dentist we went to Roppongi Hills to see Pirates of The Caribbean. Now this movie was excellent. Everything that a movie should be: Depp was fantastic, the bad, cursed pirates were nasty, the 'good' Brits properly snotty, the sword fighting dynamic, the musical score engaging, the babe stunningly beautiful, the cleavage heaving, the blood minimal, the effects fantastic and seamless, and the plot engaging. Praise Disney for having the sense to make it PG-13, not R (too bloody/sexy/scary) or PG (too tame.)
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