Mythbusters and Doro-Dango
This is a clip from a recent Mythbusters episode in which Adam and Jamie are attempting to polish poop. Frustrated with their methodology, Adam goes to a guy named Jason Arnold to learn how to make doro-dango. (And that’s pronounced “dahn-goh,” not “dang-o,” by the way. Wince-worthy, really.) Doro means mud, and dango is a type of small spherical, traditional Japanese sweet. You’d be fine translating it as “mud balls” or “mud dumplings.”
Anyhoo, I first learned of doro-dango via Japan Probe, where a post linked through to Professor Fumiyo Kayo’s English language instruction page at the Kyoto University of Education. It sure seems that they’ve become quite the trend elsewhere since catching the public’s eye a few years ago, thanks to Professor Kayo’s revival efforts. If you’re curious, you can find instructions for how to make doro-dango all over the web. (There’s even a dorodango.com! It’s the personal site of Bruce Gardner.)
Anyway, I found this application fascinating – using the doro-dango method to find out whether or not poop will take a luster. Kind of gross, sure, but kind of a cool cultural, artsy solution, too. What do you think?
