The all-electric home craze sweeping Japan with its typhoon of talking bathtubs, full-service toilets and flameless kitchens may finally have met its match.
His name is Yasuyuki Fujimura, and he is the founder of Atelier Non-Electric, an inventors' workshop in Tochigi Prefecture.
Since 2000, the 65-year-old doctor of engineering has been cooking up designs for water purifiers, dehumidifiers and lighting systems that don't require electricity to run on. He's also been zealously propounding the idea that it's time for people in Japan — and the rest of the world — to rethink their fondness for appliances that offer convenience and comfort at the cost of environmental health and, he says, true happiness.