What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Japanese people? Some might think of the different martial arts. Others might think of the tasty Japanese food; while others might think of the amazing technologies invented by the Japanese. Let’s take a brief look at the top 10 famous Japanese Technologies.
Flat Panel Display
The flat panel display was developed by Sony as flat CRT for the Watchman series of products. The FD-210 was the first Watchman model to use the flat panel display was introduced in 1982.
Airsoft
Airsoft is an exciting and popular team or individual shooting game using air-compressed guns. The first airsoft gun was invented by Japanese Tanio Kobayashi. Airsoft originated in Japan but spread to Hong Kong and China in the 1970s and to the rest of the world.
Bullet Train
The Bullet Train is Japan’s “high-speed train.” The first bullet train, the Tokaido Shinkansen, began transporting passengers in 1964. Earlier test runs in 1963 had the bullet train hitting top speeds of 256 km/h. The 0 Series Shinkansen bullet train reached maximum passenger service speeds of 210 km/h or 130 km/h.
Compact Disc Player
The CD or Compact Disc became a very popular storage medium for music, games, and applications in the 1980s. In 1982, Sony in Japan released the world’s first CD player, the CDP-101.
Portable CD Player
As a follow up to the popularity of the CD Player and in an effort to allow people “on the go” to play CD music anywhere, Sony released the Discman, the first portable CD player, in 1984.
Pocket Calculator
Japan invented the first portable calculator in 1970. Sanyo, Canon, and Sharp were one of the first Japanese companies to market the pocket calculator around the world.
Digital Single-Lens Reflex Camera
Japan-based Sony introduced a prototype of the first still video camera, the Sony Mavica, in 1981. Mavica was an analog electronic camera with interchangeable lenses and a single-lens reflex (SLR) viewfinder.
Electric Rice Cooker
The invention of the rice cooker revolutionized how rice was cooked at a controlled rate. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation invented the first electric rice cooker in the late 1940s.
Videocassette Recorder
The introduction of the videocassette recorder allowed common people to record TV shows for later replays. In 1971, Sony launched the first machines to use the very first videocassette format, the U-matic which was designed for commercial or professional television production use. In 1975, Sony introduced the Betamax tape format. Soon after, JVC launched its competing VHS (Video Home System) format.
Blu-ray Disc
The optical disc storage medium saw an evolution in storage capacity over the years. The DVD virtually made the CD obsolete as the DVD offered more gigabyte storage space for music, movies, and applications. Shuji Nakamura invented practical blue laser diodes which Sony applied to come up with the Blu-ray Disc. A single Blu-ray disc can hold up to 128 Gb storage space.