Wonderful 30-second Rube Goldberg videos from Japanese children's TV

Cory Doctorow 6:21 am Tue Feb 28, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8vKwnzPN-I

NHK's children's show Pythagora Switch features fiendishly clever, astoundingly amusing interstitial segments with beautiful little Rube Goldberg machines, possessed of a Miyazakiesque whimsy and a Mujiesque minimalism. These are wonderful — and at 30 seconds each, you can watch a whole ton of 'em.

And so you should.

YouTuber KeN KeN has compiled many of these interstitials on his channel. It's tough to describe what these machines are like without watching them, so we've pulled a bunch for you. They're paradoxically more simple and yet more complex than we're using to seeing with Western Rube Goldberg machines, and because they're so short—most are less than 30 seconds—they're addictively watchable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRTOx1KdXFU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQ5nTu7RDw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny0Hswrm-YE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAA3LSrnlmE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6anoIHx8-w

Japanese Rube Goldberg Machines are Somehow More Simple and More Complex at the Same Time
[Rain Noe/Core77]

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