Yoshiro Nakamatsu

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Yoshiro Nakamatsu, born on June 26, 1928, is a Japanese inventor famous for holding many patents. He is best known by the nickname Dr. NakaMats and often appears on Japanese talk shows to demonstrate his inventions.

Nakamatsu describes a unique creativity routine. He says ideas come to him after listening to music and then diving underwater to think. He records his thoughts underwater, claiming that the slight lack of oxygen helps him come up with ideas quickly. He also built a “Calm Room,” a bathroom with no nails and gold tiles, which he says blocks television and radio waves to boost creative thinking. In his house there is a so-called “vertical moving room” he claims helps him think better, though he denies that it is an actual elevator.

He has long claimed to be one of the most prolific inventors, sometimes stating that he holds a world record for the number of inventions. He has said he owns more than 3,200 inventions and many patents, though not all sources agree on the exact figure or on the ranking of his work.

One of Nakamatsu’s early inventions was a simple soy-sauce dispenser called the Shoyu Churu Churu. He has also claimed that he invented the first floppy disk well before IBM’s patent in 1969. However, his 1952 patent was for a different idea—a paper-based storage concept for optical sound—and it is not the same as a floppy disk. IBM has said that while they licensed some of his patents, none were for a floppy disk, and historians note that magnetic floppy disks existed before 1952.

Nakamatsu is the son of Hajime Nakamatsu, a banker, and Yoshino Nakamatsu, a teacher who encouraged his interest in mathematics and science. He studied engineering at the University of Tokyo and has three children.

In 2014 he disclosed he was suffering from prostate cancer and that doctors did not expect him to live past 2015, saying he was seeking new treatments. He has also pursued politics for many years, running unsuccessfully for Governor of Tokyo since 1995, including a 2024 bid at age 96 in which he finished 11th. He has also run for the House of Councillors and was associated with the Happiness Realization Party.

Nakamatsu has appeared on several international TV programs and documentaries. He won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2005 for Nutrition for photographing every meal he has eaten over 34 years. A 2009 documentary explored his life and work. In 2010 he claimed an honorary title from the Order of Malta, though this was denied. In 2016 he received a Museum Lifetime Visionary Award, and in 2019 a short documentary by Great Big Story highlighted his inventions and creative process, drawing millions of online views.