Toshiba

The origins of the Japanese company Toshiba date back to 1875, when Tanaka Hisashige founded Tanaka Seizo-sho. The son of a simple craftsman, Tanaka came from a humble background and never attended a school. Despite this, he had extraordinary technical talent and was highly imaginative – as a young boy he produced metal toys and various tools. He also designed an alcohol-powered ship and the legendary Man-nen Dokei chronometer, which was then considered a mechanical miracle. Tanaka was also very ambitious. In 1875 he founded his own company, which was one of the first mechanical and electrical engineering manufacturers in Japan, at the age of 76.

The Toshiba story

But Tanaka's company is only half the story. Toshiba was formed following the merger of two companies – Tanaka Seizo-sho and Tokyo Denki. In contrast, Tokyo Denki was founded by the well-educated Ichisuko Fujioka, dubbed the "Japanese Edison". After founding Tokyo Denki in 1890, Ichisuko Fujioka succeeded in making his company the largest manufacturer of light bulbs and electric lamps in Japan. His company was later involved in the installation of the first electric lifts and provided the technology for the first electric trains. In 1939, Tokyo Denki and Shibaura Seisaku-sho merged under the name Tokyo Shibaura Denki, which later became Toshiba.

Toshiba and the Second World War

Toshiba recovered rapidly following the Second World War and was able to continue growing despite the crisis. In the years 1953 to 1959, the company started developing the first Japanese computer and manufacturing industrial equipment (turbines, electric motors) and consumer electronics (TVs, air conditioning, domestic appliances). In the 1960s, Toshiba gained the status of a transnational corporation, with a broad range of products sold all over the world.

The first Toshiba laptop

In 1985, Toshiba introduced the world's first IBM-compatible laptop. After several years of portable computer development, Toshiba gradually introduced various laptop series to the market. Even today Toshiba is highly active in the production of laptops - the Portégé series offers highly mobile devices, the Satellite series is designed for home use, the Tecra series for business use, and the Qosmio series for multimedia and entertainment. Toshiba is now one of the leading manufacturers of NAND flash memory, radar systems, as well as medical diagnostic instruments. The company also supplies equipment for the Japanese space program, high-speed trains and nuclear power.