The Nightly Quill

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu:
Engineer, Design Engineer, Inventor, 2,300 Patents, 3,218 Inventions
Invented the floppy Disk, the CD, Digital Watch

Yoshiro Nakamatsu makes many bold claims to fame. His resume lists him as one of the five greatest scientists in history, alongside Archimedes, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla. But he prefers to be known as the inventor of the floppy disk, the CD, the digital watch and a grand total of 3,218 inventions at last count.

Such a feat would make Nakamatsu the world’s most prolific inventor, well ahead of Thomas Edison, who logged 1,093. Nakamatsu’s unconventional mind has made him a celebrity among tinkerers, academics and bureaucrats alike. Dozens of awards from such sources plaster the walls of his office, situated in Akasaka, one of the most expensive office districts in Tokyo, and conveniently located a short walk from the Japanese patent office.

A visit to Nakamatsu’s “laboratory” begins with a video pastiche of his achievements, honours ceremonies and television appearances, played on a giant flat screen set among a jumble of inventions in one corner. One sequence shows him welcomed to the United States by President George Bush. Squashed under the documents, diagrams and models stacked deep on his desk lies his latest award, the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, awarded for outstanding service to the community. The sprightly 73-year-old’s inventive streak showed itself when he was 5 years old. He created an automatic gravity controller for a model plane that he says makes autopilot possible. His parents took up a family friend’s advice to patent the device. The patent has expired, and he earns no royalties from autopilot systems. But subsequent patents have made Nakamatsu a wealthy man.

One invention for which he says he still holds the patent is a plastic kerosene pump that can be found in any hardware store. He invented the pump at the age of 14. Another invention he made that year was a heat pump. The pump compresses carbon dioxide or air to generate heat and is used in air conditioners.

Nakamatsu’s greatest fame stems from his efforts in 1948 to shrink the size of phonograph records and eliminate the scratchy quality of their sound. Nakamatsu, then 20, used fine wood for a “floppy media and drive.” He completed the project two years later at Tokyo Imperial University’s Engineering School. The drive could be read with magnetic and light sensors. He received a Japanese patent for the disk invention in 1952, which he points out was 20 years before IBM secured a US patent and 28 years before Sony and Philips Electronics released the compact disc in 1980.

Nakamatsu considers his vision of a method of digitising analog technology to have been “the beginning of Silicon Valley and the information technology revolution.” IBM now owns the patent for the floppy disk, but the company struck a number of computer-related patent agreements with Nakamatsu in the 1970s. Nakamatsu also lays claim to having invented a digital watch in 1953, well before Hamilton Watch Corporation developed the famed LED display Pulsar in 1970.

Nakamatsu attributes his inventive drive to early childhood experiences. His mother, who attended Tokyo Women’s University, began teaching him physics, mathematics and chemistry when he was only 3 years old. A portrait of his mother sits on his desk, and a metre-high print of her leans against a whiteboard behind him. Nakamatsu says his interest in model aeroplanes was also a factor. He built them and competed with his young cousins on how far they would fly. This competition, along with his mother’s teaching, fuelled his drive.

The key to successful innovation, according to Nakamatsu, is “freedom of intelligence.” By this he means working with no strings attached. Nakamatsu says he has never sought funding from any person, company or government and prefers to develop and produce his own inventions. “If you ask or borrow money from other people, you cannot keep freedom of intelligence,” he says simply. His company – Dr NakaMats Innovation Institute – has independently developed brands of Yummi Nutri Brain biscuits and tea meant to improve cognitive function. Then there is the Love-Jet, a spray he says will increase sexual stimulation three-fold, due to an ingredient that prompts the body to produce more of the adrenal gland hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Nakamatsu has not granted licence rights to companies other than IBM, which held 70 percent of the computer market at the time their agreements were reached.

“If I license an invention, sometimes the company will not make what I really want,” he explains. “If I make it myself, I can make it my ideal product.” As wondrous as Nakamatsu’s capacity for invention seems to be, it is perhaps matched by his personal regimen for maximising creativity and longevity. The inventor says he has consumed only his own products for 30 years. He sleeps just four hours a night and believes more than six hours is unhealthy. Yet he does look considerably younger than his age. Nakamatsu says people can live 144 years if they follow his advice.
“So I’m only in the middle of my life,” he says. “I can make almost double as many inventions. I said 3,218, so maybe by the end of my life, 6,000 is possible.”

Nakamatsu is critical of people who approach inventing as merely a tool for making money – “similar to investing in stocks, or gambling.” This approach, he says, often leads to failure. “My spirit of invention is completely different,” Nakamatsu says. “My spirit is love. Take, for example, the kerosene pump I invented. I loved my mother, and so I wished to make my mother’s work easier in the kitchen.” Nakamatsu also believes in dogged persistence. When faced with the choice of an easy way and a difficult way, he says, people inevitably choose the easy way. “But I always go the difficult way,” he says. “And I enjoy it. There is a world there that is completely unknown to people looking for the easy way.”

Among the Nakamatsu’s many ideas is a cigarette that he says makes a person smarter, and a chair that cools a person’s head and warms his feet to induce clarity of thought. Nakamatsu has also created a water-powered engine, which he calls Enerex. It’s this engine, unveiled in 1990, that lies at the heart of Nakamatsu’s assertion that he invented the fuel cell.
Energy generation remains the most fertile area for future inventions, Nakamatsu says. Among the 500 projects he has on the go is a “next generation” house, crammed with new technology – from an improved form of cement, to the “world’s smallest toilet” and a new take on stairs. The house is powered not from the regular electricity grid but from what Nakamatsu calls “cosmic” energy. “We receive much power from cosmic sources,” Nakamatsu says. “In the past we never used such energy.”
Nakamatsu says he has 50 patents on cosmic energy technology, but when pressed for details, he declines, chuckling. “It is my invention,” he says.

And we have 71 years or so to see exactly what he means.

An interview with Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu:

Nakamatsu (otherwise known as Nakamats) shares the secret to his creative genius

Interviewed by Chic Thompson
Author of What a Great Idea!

Nakamatsu:
In my country, the drive to succeed-and the competition-is unbelievably intense. From early on, Japanese children are under enormous pressure to learn. I was fortunate that my parents encouraged my natural curiosity along with my academic learning from the very beginning. They gave me the freedom to create and invent-which I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember.

Chic:
What are the teaching methods used to prepare Japanese children for the strong competition they face? And how does this affect creativity?

Nakamatsu:

One method is memorization. We teach our kids to memorize until the age of twenty, for we have discovered that the human brain needs memorization up to that point. Then young people can begin free-associating, putting everything together. That’s how geniuses are formed. If a child doesn’t learn how to memorize effectively, he doesn’t reach his full potential.

Chic:
So you feel that creativity comes from a balance of regimentation and freedom?

Nakamatsu:
Yes, but freedom is most important of all. Genius lies in developing complete and perfect freedom within a human being. Only then can a person come up with the best ideas.

Chic:
We have a difficult time in this country because we don’t allow ourselves that kind of freedom. We have what we call the Protestant work ethic that says, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” To me, trying too hard stifles creativity.

Nakamatsu:
That’s unfortunate. It’s crucial to be able to find the time and the freedom to develop your best ideas.

Chic:
Then tell me about your routine to spark creativity. I’ve heard that you come up with ideas underwater!

Nakamatsu:
Yes, that’s part of a three-step process. When developing ideas, the first rule is You have to be calm. So I’ve created what I call my “static” room. It’s a place of peace and quiet. In this room, I only have natural things: a rock garden, natural running water, plants, a five-ton boulder from Kyoto. The walls are white. I can look out on the Tokyo skyline, but in the room there is no metal or concrete-only natural things like water and rock and wood.

Chic:
So you go into your “static” room to meditate?

Nakamatsu:
No, just the opposite! I go into the room to free-associate. It’s what you must do before meditating, before focusing on one thing. I just throw out ideas-I let my mind wander where it will.
Chic:
I call that “naive incubation.”

Nakamatsu:
Yes, it’s my time to let my mind be free. Then I go into my “dynamic” room, which is just the opposite of my “static” room. The “dynamic” room is dark, with black-and-white-striped walls, leather furniture, and special audio and video equipment. I’ve created speakers with frequencies between 12 and 40,000 hertz-which, you can imagine, are quite powerful. I start out listening to jazz, then change to what you call “easy listening,” and always end with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. For me, Beethoven’s Fifth is good music for conclusions.

Chic:
And finally you go to your swimming pool…

Nakamatsu:
Exactly-the final stage. I have a special way of holding my breath and swimming underwater-that’s when I come up with my best ideas. I’ve created a Plexiglas writing pad so that I can stay underwater and record these ideas. I call it “creative swimming.”

Chic:
That seems to fit very well with the strategy I teach in my creativity workshops: discover and use your “idea-friendly times.”

Nakamatsu:
Yes, but in doing this, you must prepare your body. You can only eat the best foods. You cannot drink alcohol.

Chic:
I’ve heard that you’ve come up with your own “brain food.”

Nakamatsu:
Yes, these are snacks I’ve invented, which I eat during the day. I’ve marketed them as Yummy Nutri Brain Food. They are very helpful to the brain’s thinking process. They are a special mixture of dried shrimp, seaweed, cheese, yogurt, eel, eggs, beef, and chicken livers-all fortified with vitamins.

Chic:
How many people-technicians, researchers, and assistants-do you employ to help with your inventions?

Nakamatsu:
In all, I have 110 employees.

Chic:
And what exactly do they do?

Nakamatsu:
They work with my ideas, make prototypes, and give other assistance with details.

Chic:
Do you come up with ideas at night?

Nakamatsu:
I come up with ideas anytime! I only sleep four hours a night.

Chic:
That’s interesting-that’s very similar to Thomas Edison. Do you take naps like he did?

Nakamatsu:
Yes. Twice a day I take thirty-minute naps in a special chair I’ve designed-the Cerebrex chair. It improves memory, math skills, and creativity, and it can lower blood pressure, improve eyesight, and cure other ailments.

Chic:
How does the Cerebrex work?

Nakamatsu:
Special sound frequencies pulse from footrest to headrest, stimulating blood circulation and increasing synaptic activity in the brain. An hour in my chair refreshes the brain as much as eight hours of sleep.

Chic:
So, like Edison, you’re awake most of the time. Do you agree with Edison’s claim that ideas are 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration?

Nakamatsu:
No, now it’s just the opposite! Now it’s 1 percent perspiration and 99 percent “ikispiration.” Now, more than ever, we have to have ikispiration. This means I encourage myself to go through my three elements of creation: suji, the theory of knowledge; pika, inspiration; and iki, practicality, feasibility, and marketability. In order to be successful, you must go through all three stages and make sure that your ideas stand up to all of them, which is ikispiration. Also, these days, the computer saves time and cuts out the 99 percent perspiration.

Chic:
Do you find that most American research-and-development firms take themselves through your three stages?

Nakamatsu:
Most are very thorough with suji, or theory, but don’t concentrate on the iki, marketability. Hardest of all, of course, is pika, the creative inspiration. Researchers often have trouble with pika because they’re too focused on one particular element. A genius must be a well-rounded person, familiar with many things: art, music, science, sports. He or she can’t be restricted to only one field of expertise.

Chic:
Well, you certainly appear to practice what you preach. You know so much about music, about art, about sports.

Nakamatsu:
That’s what genius is, when you’re able to discuss, and to be good at, many things. As much as I enjoy hearing about the things you [Chic] have invented during your chemistry career, about your teaching, about your video programs, I’m most fascinated by the fact that a person who can be a chemist and a teacher and a speaker can also be a cartoonist. And at such a young age!

Chic:
Well, people do kid me about looking young, but I could say the same thing about you.

Nakamatsu:
That comes from eating the right foods and participating in the right athletics. Certain activities I believe aren’t good for creativity. To be creative, you must have perfect freedom. Sports like jogging, tennis, and golf, I don’t believe, are conducive to the brain waves for creativity.

Chic:
Hmmmm. I’d really like to see your research on that, because I know a lot of people who feel they come up with their ideas when they go out jogging. Maybe, for Americans, because we don’t allow ourselves to have perfect freedom at work, we can get part of the way there by jogging or golfing-that’s the only time we give ourselves permission to be free enough to come up with new ideas.

Nakamatsu:
Maybe so, but they won’t be your best ideas-you’re not at your peak creative performance if you have to use athletics or techniques to get your ideas. It’s only when you have perfect freedom that your best ideas come out.

Chic:
What are some of your suggestions to American executives on ways to become more creative?

Nakamatsu:
I’d like to see the work ethic in the United States more geared to creativity. We need more creative people and more creative leaders. Governments as a whole must learn to be more creative. I’ve just written a book called The Invention of Government.

I’m trying to show that through the creative process, governments-not just individuals-can be more innovative. Among my goals right now are working in political reform in Japan and improving our relationship with the United States.

I want Americans and others to understand that many of the perceived barriers between nations-trade barriers, cultural barriers-aren’t as strong as people think they are. It’s just that we don’t understand each other as well as we should, and that means we must become more open with each other.

Chic:
In that regard, I’m very impressed by your openness to discuss and to spend so many hours with me. So many people in the United States who have one or two good ideas don’t share them with anyone. They’re afraid that people are going to steal them. And here you’ve opened up an International Genius Convention-for everyone to display their ideas.

Nakamatsu:
No, so let’s invent a product together. What would you buy today if it were available?

Chic:
I’d buy a recording device, about the size of a credit card, that could fit in my shirt pocket. Every time I had a flash of an idea, I could just record it. It would be voice-activated, with a very large memory, and have a voice-activated filing system for idea management.

Nakamatsu:
What would you call it?

Chic:
I’d call it “Flash”- because it would just be flashes of ideas, which you could then download onto a computer system.

Nakamatsu:
Very good.

Chic:
[He then gave me a ten-minute education on micro technology and a grilling on what I thought of the idea's market potential.]

Nakamatsu:
This will be our first product together, so when I get home, I’ll turn it over to my research department.Let me thank you. You seem to have the ability to network and to learn from others all the time.That’s what it takes to succeed. And, for every meeting, I like to keep a visual record. That’s why my wife has been taking pictures and recording our conversation on the camcorder. When something is on video, I can go back and reference the face and the voice, not just written notes. Now, would you please type in your name?

Chic:
Excuse me?

Nakamatsu:
Type in your name on this infrared recorder, and it will appear directly on the photographs that we took, along with today’s date.

Chic:
I’ve never seen anything like this!

Nakamatsu:
I know. One of my recent inventions.

This interview was recorded April 29, 1990, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the Duquesne Club and was published in What a Great Idea! by Chic Thompson (available at Amazon.com) . Visit Chic Thompson’s website at: http://www.whatagreatidea.com/

Contact info:

Dr. NakaMats Innovation Institute
Landic Akasaka No.2 Bldg. 10-9 2 chome
Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan
Phone:(03) 3585-8585 Fax:(03) 3589-5858
Email: info@Dr.NakaMats.com