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Umbrellas have been around for a very, very long time. The oldest record of a collapsible umbrella dates back to 21 A.D. in ancient China. While that in itself is pretty crazy, what’s even crazier is that the core design hasn’t really changed.

Never say never, though! A Japanese company has recently released an umbrella that is backwards to any umbrella you’ve seen before…literally.

▼ The umbrella opens and folds in the opposite direction of a typical umbrella.

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The GAX-G1 is the second model of an umbrella made by Yuu Trading Corporation, a Japanese company that spent 25 years specializing in false teeth, gold caps and other dental products. But not umbrellas. Not even close!

Even so, just because you specialize in dental hardware, it doesn’t mean you can’t reinvent the umbrella, right? Right! And that’s just what they’ve done, re-imagining the age-old tool.

▼ The bottom of the umbrella is the top.

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Umbrellas have served us well until now, no doubt about that, but they aren’t really the best at protecting us from the rain when going out an uncovered door or, as was the inspiration for the new design, getting out of a car.

▼ It’s the umbrella every car owner has been waiting for.

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The GAX-G1 folds the opposite way of normal umbrellas, allowing you to stick the umbrella out of a tiny crack to open it, exposing only a minimal amount of your body to the elements. They call it “Inside Out Technology.”

▼ Your hands never have to get to wet!

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While the cover of the umbrella is made from your typical, water-proof, polyester, the staff is made from Anodized aluminum and the rest of the pieces are made from carbon-fiber. All of that sounds pretty expensive, doesn’t it?

But actually, it’s only expensive if you think that 34,000 yen (US$285) is expensive for an umbrella. Change comes at a price, people!

▼ You can see it in action in this promo video.

Do you think that this will spark an umbrella revolution and our society will be forever done with our archaic umbrellas? Or is this just an expensive fad that will pass — after all, why change what’s not broken? Let us know your thoughts below!

Sources: CoLocal, Gax Umbrella
Images: Gax Umbrella