We know Japanese 100 yen stores have some amazing things, but just how amazing?

100 yen shops have some amazing and unique solutions to common problems, like making your plushies fluffy again. And now it seems that their merchandise even extends to some common smartphone problems.

It’s something most of us have experienced: you left your smartphone out in the blazing summer sun, you’ve been on video chat for just a tad too long, or you’ve been playing games that eat up a ton of processing time. Now your phone is a fiery-hot rectangle and it’s giving you the message, “Your device needs to cool down before you can use it.”

Luckily, Japanese 100 yen shop Can Do has a solution: a fan that you clip onto the back of your smartphone. It’s supposed to cool down your phone and keep it that way so you can use it no matter how hot it gets!

▼ Here’s what you get for less than one US dollar.

Our Japanese language reporter Go Hatori decided to purchase one and see whether or not it really worked. He didn’t try to overheat his phone first, but he did want to see if it would even turn on. After all, it’s only 100 yen (US$0.95). Not exactly a price that screams “quality”.

The palm-sized fan is pretty simple. It’s just the fan with a USB cable extending out from it. There are no switches, so it turns on when you plug it in, and it shuts off when you pull out the cord. Naturally, Go tested it out on himself first. He plugged it into a portable USB charger and held it up to his forehead.

All he felt was a whisper of wind. It didn’t even disturb his hair. But maybe that’s all a smartphone needs?

▼ Next, Go used the suction cups on the back of the fan…

▼ …to stick that sucker right on there.

▼ And it looked…

▼ Pretty darn cool?!

The only thing Go didn’t like was the bulk of the USB charger, so he tried an alternate charging method.

▼ He used a couple of converting cables to hook it up to his laptop.

▼ He changed the USB Type-A plug to a Micro-B one…

▼ …then converted that to a Lightning plug. But when he plugged in the iPhone…

▼…upon careful examination…

▼ …the fan wasn’t turning at all!

Go tried turning over the cables and making all sorts of adjustments, but it wouldn’t work. The mobile USB charger also had suction cups on the back, so Go decided to stick that onto the back of his iPhone as well.

▼ Now it looked like some sort of time bomb from a movie!

▼ In any case, Go thought the device was pretty cool. But in the end…

▼ …dramatic zoom out…

▼ …he probably won’t use it.

Even though this one didn’t really work out, there are tons of other awesome 100-yen shop goods we’ve found and will definitely continue to use, like this handy dandy sushi maker! Can Do, Daiso, Seria, and more, we applaud you.

Photos: ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]