List of Japanese inventions and discoveries

This is a list of Japanese inventions and discoveries. Japanese pioneers have made contributions across a number of scientific, technological and art domains. In particular, Japan has played a crucial role in the digital revolution since the 20th century, with many modern revolutionary and widespread technologies in fields such as electronics and robotics introduced by Japanese inventors and entrepreneurs. Japan's technological boom during the mid-to-late 20th century was central to the third industrial revolution and information revolution.^[1]

Pre-7th century

A Japanese folding fan (sensu).

• Ainu folk music
  • Mukkuri
  • Rekuhkara
• Amappo
• Hōgaku (traditional Japanese music)
  • Japanese musical scales
  • Okinawan music
  • Ryukyuan music
  • Wagakki (traditional Japanese musical instruments)

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1831) by Hokusai, using the ukiyo-e style of Japanese art.

• Japanese art
  • Japanese architecture
• Japanese cuisine
  • Rice ball (onigiri) — Dates back more than 2,000 years, found at an archaeological site in Ishikawa Prefecture.^[2]
• Japanese games
• Japanese martial arts
  • Budō
  • Mixed martial arts (MMA) — The origins of mixed martial arts in Japan dates back to ancient times.^[3]
  • Sumo — According to the Nihon Shoki, published in 720, the origin of sumo is the contest of strength between Nomi no Sukune and Taima no Kehaya in 26 BC.^[4]
• Kyūdō
  • Ya (arrow)
  • Yabusame
• Yumi

4th century

Bowl of Sushi, art produced by Hiroshige (1797–1858) depicting sushi.

• Japanese armour
• Sushi

5th century

• Fue (flute)
• Japanese literature
• Nihontō (Japanese sword)
  • Japanese swordsmithing
  • Tsurugi (sword)
• Kabuto

6th century

Women playing the Shamisen, Tsuzumi and Taiko in Meiji Japan.

• Chokutō
• Folding fan — The folding hand fan was invented in Japan, with dates ranging from the 6th to 9th centuries.^[5]
• Japanese mathematics
• Kōgoishi
• Taiko (wadaiko)
• Tamahagane
• Tatara (furnace)

7th–18th centuries

• Kusari (Japanese mail armour)
• Ramen

7th century

Hōryū-ji (607), the oldest wooden building with Earthquake resistance.

• Earthquake resistance — Shinbashira-based Japanese pagodas and Buddhist temples are the oldest earthquake-resistant structures. Earliest is Hōryū-ji built in 607.^[6]
  • Japanese pagoda — The Japanese pagoda originates from the Chinese pagoda, but was adapted for Japan's environment, such as the addition of a Shinbashira pillar.^[6]
  • Tuned mass damper (shinbashira) — Earliest example is the shinbashira technology used in Japanese pagodas and temples dating back to Hōryū-ji (607).^[6]
  • Wooden building — Hōryū-ji (607) is the oldest wooden building.^[7]
• Gagaku
  • Biwa
  • Koto (instrument)
  • Shakuhachi
  • Tsuzumi
• Japanese kitchen knife
• Japanese philosophy
• Kampo (Japanese medicine)
• Tosogu (Japanese sword mountings)
• Science fiction — Japanese science fiction genre of Mirai-ki ("records of the future") dates back to the 7th century. Famous early example is Urashima Tarō (8th century).^[8]
• Wadokei (Japanese clock)

8th century

A katana (1819).

• Blotting paper — Cosmetic oil blotting paper dates back to the Heian period (794–1185) and gained popularity during the Edo period (1603–1867).^[9]
  • Washi — The washi papermaking technique was developed in Japan during the Heian period (794–1185).^[10]
  • Screen printing (ise katagami) — Screen printing originates from Japanese ise katagami, in turn influenced by block printing from China.^[11]
• Ikebana
• Isekai — The concept has origins in the story of fisherman Urashima Tarō (8th century), who saves a turtle and is brought to a wondrous undersea kingdom.^[12]
  • Time travel — Time travel in fiction dates back to the tale of Urashima Tarō from the Mukashibanashi (8th century).^[8]
  • Yōkai
• Jujutsu — A Japanese martial art style evolved among the samurai of feudal Japan for defeating an armed and armored opponent without weapons.^[13]
• Katana — The word katana first appears in the Nihon Shoki (720).^[14]
  • Wakizashi
  • Kanabō
• Oshiroi
• Pictorial narrative (emaki) — Emaki pictorial narratives originate from 8th-century Buddhist temples in Japan.^[15]
• Shō (instrument)
• Shōmyō

9th century

• Tahōtō — Tahōtō is a form of Japanese pagoda found primarily at Esoteric Shingon and Tendai school Buddhist temples. Unlike most pagodas, it has two stories.^[16]
• Origami — Folded paper were used for decorations and tools in Shinto ceremonies, where decorations and gifts in folded paper became stylized as ceremonial origami.^[10]
• War fan (tessen)

10th century

Kaguya-hime returning to the Moon in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (10th century).

• Bushido
  • Tantō
• Extraterrestrials in fiction — The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (10th century) is considered to be the first story about an extraterrestrial visiting Earth.^[8]
  • Flying saucer — The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (10th century) has an early manuscript illustration of a round flying machine similar to a flying saucer.^[17]
• Min'yō
  • Horagai
• Novel — Ochikubo Monogatari (10th century) has been called the "world's first full-length novel".^[18]

11th century

The Tale of Genji (11th century), an early novel.

• Concealed weapon — Several early concealed weapons were invented in classical Japan, known as kakushibuki (concealed weapon) or hibuki (secret weapon).^[19]
  • Shuriken — The most famous Japanese concealed weapon, the Shuriken was invented during the Gosannen War in the 11th century.^[19]
• Kawaii — Roots date back to The Pillow Book (1002).^[20]
• Historical novel — The Tale of Genji (11th century) is considered to be the first historical novel.^[21]
• Psychological novel — The Tale of Genji (11th century) is considered to be the first psychological novel.^[21]

12th century

Hokusai Manga (18th century), an early manga comic book.

• Bento
• Comic (manga) — History of manga dates back to 12th century Japanese scrolls. During the Edo period (1603–1867), Toba Ehon embedded the concept of manga.^[22]
• E-toki — Originates from the Chōjū-giga in 12th-century Japan.^[15]
• Hichiriki
• Japanese mode — A pentatonic musical scale commonly used in traditional Japanese music.^[23]
• Kama (tool)
  • Kusarigama
• Ninja
  • Ninjutsu — Developed by groups of people mainly from the Iga Province and Kōka, Shiga of Japan.^[24]
  • Togakure-ryū — Different ryū (schools) taught versions of ninjutsu, such as the Togakure-ryū.^[24]
• Samurai
  • Naginata
  • Taijutsu
• Shogi
  • Dai shogi
  • Heian shogi
• Tessenjutsu

14th century

Nagoya Castle (1612), a Japanese castle.

• Gunbai
• Japanese castle — Fortresses constructed primarily out of stone and wood used for military defence in strategic locations.^[25]
• Noh — A historical genre of Japanese theatre that originated from sarugaku in the mid‑14th century.^[26]
  • Psychological horror — Psychological Japanese horror has roots in classical Japanese Noh theatre.^[27]
• Kenpō
  • Okinawan martial arts — Okinawans combined Chinese Chuan Fa (introduced in the 14th century) with the existing martial art of Te to form Tō-de (Okinawa-te).^[28]
  • Karate — Began as a common fighting system known as "ti" (or "te") among the pechin class of the Ryukyuans. Motobu‑ryū school was passed down by Seikichi Uehara.^[29]
• Soroban (mechanical calculator) — An abacus mechanical calculator developed in Japan. Derived from the Chinese suanpan, imported to Japan in the 14th century.^[30]
• Yukar

16th century

Origami paper cranes (orizuru)

• Go (modern rules) — Though the game originated in China, free opening of the game as it is played globally began in 16th century Japan.
• Hanafuda
• Kobudō
  • Fukiya
  • Kendo
  • Shinai
  • Tanegashima (gun)
• Paper crane (orizuru) — One of the Japanese sword mountings (kozuka) by Gotō Eijō (1500s–1600s) was decorated with a picture of a crane made of origami.^[31]
• Pepper spray (metsubushi) — An early form of pepper spray was metsubushi, used by samurai in feudal Japan as a form of policing.^[32]
• Shamisen
• Sho shogi

17th century

Kunisada (c. 1830) depicting Horibe Yasubee (c.1700) holding a gandō, an early flashlight.

• Agar — Agar was discovered in Japan around 1658 by Mino Tarōzaemon.^[33]
• Beigoma
• Calculus — Seki Kōwa (1642–1708) founded Enri, a mathematical system with the same purpose as calculus.^[34]
  • Determinant — Introduced by Seki Kōwa in 1683 to study elimination of variables in higher‑order algebraic equations, to give shorthand representation for the resultant.^[35]
  • Elimination theory — In 1683 (Kai-Fukudai-no-Hō), Seki Kōwa came up with elimination theory, based on resultant.^[35]
  • Resultant — In 1683, Seki Kōwa came up with elimination theory, based on resultant. To express resultant, he developed the notion of determinant.^[35]
• Chashi
• Flashlight (gyroscope) — In 17th century Edo Japan, the gandō was a gyroscopic lantern used like a flashlight. It consists of a barrel-shaped tube with a rotating candlestick.^[36]
• Kabuki — A genre of Japanese theatre developed by female dancer Okuni in the early 17th century.^[26]
  • Kumadori

Karakuri puppet (c. 1800), an early humanoid robot automata.

• Karakuri puppet (humanoid robot) — A type of mechanized humanoid automata produced in Japan from the 17th century to the 19th century.^[37]
• Kokugaku — A school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period.^[38]
• Netsuke — A miniature sculpture, originating in 17th-century Japan.^[39]
• Richardson extrapolation — Takebe Katahiro used Richardson extrapolation in 1695, about 200 years earlier than Richardson.^[40]
• Rock paper scissors (jan-ken) — Jan-ken, a 17th-century Japanese variation of Chinese ken games, introduced the modern moves of rock, paper and scissors.^[41]
  • Shiritori

• Sangaku — Japanese geometric puzzles on wooden tablets created during the Edo period (1603–1867) by members of all social classes. Introduced to Europe in the 1790s.^[42]
• Shurikenjutsu
• Tonkori

• Ukiyo-e — Japanese woodblock printing art that originates from 17th century Edo Japan.^[15]

18th century

Seki Kōwa's Katsuyo Sampo (1712), tabulating binomial coefficients and Bernoulli numbers.

• 3D image (stereopticon) — In 1718, the nozomi megane in Edo Japan was a 3D image viewing apparatus similar to a stereopticon, used for megane-e and uki-e art.^[15]
  • Color printing (nishiki-e) — In the mid-18th century, Suzuki Harunobu invented nishiki-e, a type of multi-color woodblock printing in Japan, used for ukiyo-e art.^[43]

• Bernoulli number — Studied by Seki Kōwa and published after his death in 1712, a year before Jacob Bernoulli independently rediscovered the concept.^[44]
  • Mathematics of paper folding
• Comic book (kibyoshi) — Kibyoshi picture books from the late 18th century were the first comic books. These graphical narratives share themes with modern manga.^[45]

• Electrostatic generator (erekiteru) — The erekiteru was an early electrostatic generator invented by Hiraga Gennai in 1776.^[46]
• Futures contract — The first futures exchange market was the Dōjima Rice Exchange in Japan in the 1730s.^[47]
  • Candlestick chart — Candlestick charts have been developed in the 18th century by Munehisa Homma, a Japanese rice trader of financial instruments.^[48]
• Gomoku — Historical records indicate the origins of gomoku can be traced back to the mid-1700s during the Edo period. By 1850, books had been published on gomoku.^[49]
• Life hack (urawaza) — Early Japanese life hacks called urazawa date back centuries.^[50]
• Pararayki
• Revolving stage — Invented for the Kabuki theatre in Japan during the 18th century.^[26]

19th century

See also: History of science and technology in Japan

Katsudō Shashin (1907), an early anime.

• Animation (anime) — History of anime dates back to early 19th century Edo Japan, where utsushi-e was an early form of animation.^[15]
  • Animation projector (utsushi-e) — In early 19th century Edo Japan, utsushi-e was an animation projector with image slides projected on a screen, like a magic lantern.^[15]
• Fortune cookie (tsujiura senbei) — Originates from 19th‑century Japan. In the late 19th century, Japanese immigrants introduced modern fortune cookies in America.^[51]

Kishitsu Geryō Zukan (Surgical Casebook) by Hanaoka Seishu (c. 1825).

• General anesthesia — Hanaoka Seishū was the first surgeon who used the general anaesthesia in surgery, in 1804.^[52]
  • Surgical operations — Hanaoka Seishū dared to operate on cancers of the breast and oropharynx, remove necrotic bone, and perform amputations of extremities.^[52]
  • Japanese healthcare
• Japanese theorem for cyclic polygons — This mathematical result comes from a sangaku tablet dated 1800.^[53]
• Kamishibai (paper theatre) — Evolving from emaki and e-toki pictorial narrative traditions, kamishibai emerged by the late 19th century in Meiji Japan.^[15]
• Myriad year clock — Universal clock designed by the Japanese inventor Hisashige Tanaka in 1851. It belongs to the category of Japanese clocks called Wadokei.^[54]
• Rickshaw (pulled rickshaw) — A passenger cart serving as human-powered transport. The first pulled rickshaw was invented in Japan circa 1869.^[55]
• Self-service (unmanned store) — A long tradition in rural Japan. At mujin hanbai stalls, customers take products and leave payment in a container.^[56]
• Soddy's hexlet — Irisawa Shintarō Hiroatsu analyzed Soddy's hexlet on a sangaku tablet in 1822 and was the first person to do so.^[57]

1880s

Vitamin B supplement tablets containing Thiamine (Vitamin B1)

• Dry cell battery — In 1885, Sakizō Yai invented the world's first dry cell battery in Meiji era Japan and founded Yai Dry Battery Limited Partnership Company.^[46]
  • Battery-powered electric clock — In 1885, Sakizō Yai invented a continuous electric clock powered by wet-cell batteries.^[58]
• Ekiben
• Ephedrine synthesis — In 1885, the chemical synthesis of ephedrine was first accomplished by Japanese organic chemist Nagai Nagayoshi.^[59]
  • Clostridium tetani (tetanus bacillus) — Discovered by Kitasato Shibasaburō in 1889. He was nominated for the first Nobel Prize in 1901.^[60]
• Japanese theorem for cyclic quadrilaterals — This geometry theorem was originally stated on a sangaku tablet in 1880.^[53]

All-Japan Judo Championships, 2007 men's final.

• Judo (Kodokan) — It was created as a physical, mental and moral pedagogy in Japan, in 1882, by Kanō Jigorō.^[61]
• Murata rifle
• Puroresu — Professional wrestling in Japan dates back to the 1880s.
• Redemption game — Dates back to Tamakorogashi, an arcade game in 1880s Japan, localized as Japanese Roll Ball in 1900s America.^[62]
• Vitamin (vitamin B1) — In 1884, Kanehiro Takaki attributed beriberi to protein deficiency. In 1910, Umetaro Suzuki succeeded in extracting thiamine (vitamin B1).^[63]

1890s

Chemical structure of methamphetamine.

• Asian cinema (Japanese cinema)
  • Jidaigeki
• Autonomation
• Methamphetamine (meth) — First synthesized from ephedrine in Japan in 1894 by chemist Nagayoshi Nagai.^[64]
  • Shigella — Discovered by Kiyoshi Shiga in 1897.^[60]
• Renju — A professional variant of the board game gomoku. It was named renju by journalist Ruikou Kuroiwa in 1899.^[65]
• Shimose powder — An explosive powder invented by Shimose Masachika and deployed by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1893.^[66]
  • Arisaka
  • Type 30 bayonet
• Takadiastase — Form of diastase due to microscopic fungus Aspergillus oryzae. Takamine Jōkichi developed the method first used for its extraction circa 1890–1894.^[60]

Early 20th century

1900s

Takamine Jōkichi discovered takadiastase in the early 1890s and adrenaline in 1900.

• Adrenaline (epinephrine) — Takamine Jōkichi and Keizo Uenaka discovered epinephrine in 1900. Takamine successfully isolated and purified the andrenaline hormone.^[67]
  • Arsphenamine (syphilis medical treatment) — Arsphenamine (Salvarsan), the first effective treatment for the syphilis STD, was discovered by Sahachiro Hata in 1909.^[60]
• I-novel — A type of confessional literature. The first I-novels were Tōson Shimazaki's The Broken Commandment (1906) and Katai Tayama's Futon (1907).^[68]
• Monosodium glutamate (sodium glutamate) — Invented and patented by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908.^[60]
  • Umami — Umami as a separate taste was first identified in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University while researching sodium glutamate and seaweed broth.^[69]
• Road Relay (ekiden)
• Saturnian model (planetary model) — In 1903, Hantaro Nagaoka proposed the first planetary atomic model as an alternative to the plum pudding model. It was a basis for the Rutherford model (1911) and Bohr model (1913).^[60]
• Urushiol — A mixture of alkyl catechols discovered by Rikou Majima in the 1900s. He also discovered it was an allergen which gave members of the genus Toxicodendron, such as poison ivy and poison oak, their skin-irritating properties.^[70]
• Z-term latitude variation — Discovered by Hisashi Kimura in 1902.^[60]

1910s

Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted the world's first naval-launched air raids in 1914.

Anritsu's TYK Radio Telephone, developed in 1912, was the first practical wireless radio telephone.

• Airstrike (air raid) — Early in World War I (1914), the Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted the world's first carrier-launched air raid.^[71]
• Carcinogenesis (cause of cancer) — In 1915, Yamagiwa Katsusaburō and Koichi Ichikawa first demonstrated carcinogenesis, the artificial inducement of cancer.^[60]
  • Treponema pallidum (syphilis pathogen) — Successfully isolated by Hideyo Noguchi in 1911.^[60]
• Curry bread — Invented in Japan during the early 20th century, either by Nakata Toyoharu (in 1927) or Aizō Sōma (some time after meeting Rash Behari Bose in 1916).^[72]
• Japanese typewriter — The first typewriter to be based on the Japanese writing system was invented by Kyota Sugimoto in 1915.^[60]
• KS steel — Magnetic resistant steel that is three times more resistant than tungsten steel. It was invented by Kotaro Honda in 1917.^[60]
  • MKM steel — MKM steel, an alloy containing nickel and aluminium, was developed in 1931 by the Japanese metallurgist Tokuhichi Mishima.^[63]
• Mechanical pencil — In 1915, Sharp founder Tokuji Hayakawa invented an early mechanical pencil.^[73]
• Methamphetamine hydrochloride — In 1919, methamphetamine hydrochloride was synthesized by pharmacologist Akira Ogata.^[74]

• Radio telephone (wireless phone) — Anritsu's TYK Radio Telephone, developed in 1912, was the first practical wireless telephone service. In 1914, it was installed in Toba, Mie.^[75]

• Samurai cinema — Jidaigeki silent films began depicting samurai in the 1910s.^[76]
  • Ninja film — Jidaigeki silent films began depicting ninjas in the 1910s.^[77]
  • Tokusatsu — Tokusatsu special effects date back to films by Shōzō Makino (from 1914 to 1928).^[78]
  • Fight scene animation — The Dull Sword (1917), an early anime short film, features the earliest animated fight scene.^[79]
• Superhero — Sarutobi Sasuke was an early superhero ninja from 1910s Japanese children's novels.^[80]
• Taishōgoto

1920s

Recreation of Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering electronic television experiment (1925).

Modern UHF high-gain Yagi–Uda antenna used as television antenna.

• Acetylcholine neurotransmitter — In 1926, Kenmatsu Shimidzu discovered that acetylcholine was a neuromuscular neurotransmitter.^[67]
• Aikido — Aikido was created and developed by Morihei Ueshiba in the 1920s.
• All-electronic television (TV) — Between 1924 and 1925, Kenjiro Takayanagi invented the first all‑electronic TV. By 1927, he improved display resolution to 100 scanlines.^[46]
  • Halftone television — By 1928, Kenjiro Takayanagi was the first to transmit human faces in halftones. His work influenced the later work of Vladimir K. Zworykin.^[81]
• Automatic non-stop shuttle-change power loom — Invented by Sakichi Toyoda with the Toyoda Automatic Loom (1924) using autonomation.^[63]
  • Rayon yarn spinning — Co-developed by Toray in 1927.^[82]
• Cathode-ray tube television (CRT TV) — Developed by Kenjiro Takayanagi between 1924 and 1925.^[46]
  • CRT display with thermal electron emission — In 1925, Takayanagi invented a high‑performance CRT display with a thermal electron emission source.^[46]
  • Horizontal sync and vertical sync with photocell — In 1927, Takayanagi demonstrated a CRT with horizontal/vertical sync pulses generated by a photocell.^[46]
  • Bipotential electron gun —In 1929, Takayanagi demonstrated a CRT that incorporated a bipotential electron gun with G2 and oxide cathode.^[83]

• Cultured pearl — Invented by Kokichi Mikimoto in 1916.^[63]
• Diesel engine two-wheel tractor — In 1926, Okayama farmer Nishizaki Hiroshi invented a two-wheel tractor with a diesel engine.^[84]
• Double-coil bulb — Invented by Junichi Miura of Hakunetsusha (Toshiba) in 1921 using coiled coil tungsten filament. Mass production of coiled coil filaments began in 1936.^[85]

• Electric rice cooker — The first electric rice cookers were developed by Matsushita, Mitsubishi and Sony between the 1920s and 1940s.^[86]
• Fujiwhara effect — An atmospheric phenomenon first described by Sakuhei Fujiwhara in 1921.^[87]
  • Jet stream — First discovered by meteorologist Wasaburo Oishi in the 1920s by tracking ceiling balloons.^[88]
• Gold synthesis — First synthesis of gold was conducted by Japanese physicist Hantaro Nagaoka, who synthesized gold from mercury in 1924 by neutron bombardment.^[89]
• Hand warmer — The first commercial hand warmer was created by Japanese inventor Niichi Matoba. In 1923, he manufactured the Hakukin-kairo (Hakkin warmer).^[90]
• Kikuchi lines (physics)
• Klein–Nishina formula
• Large eyes — The large eyes of manga iconography originates from the artwork of Jun'ichi Nakahara and Masawo Katō in shōjo teen magazines during the 1920s.^[91]
• Mechanical TV — In the early 1920s, Yasujiro Niwa invented the NE‑type cable phototelegraphic transmission system, the basis for mechanical TV in Japan.^[63]

• Pachinko — The first pachinko game machine was invented in Japan during the 1920s.^[92]
  • Pinball — Pachinko, invented in 1920s Japan, is considered the first mechanical pinball-type game.^[92]
• Radio fax — In the 1920s, Yasujiro Niwa successfully demonstrated the wireless transmission of images over large distances in Tokyo.^[63]
  • Meteor burst communications — The first observation of interaction between meteors and radio propagation was reported by Hantaro Nagaoka in 1929.^[93]
  • Multi-tube radio transceiver — Matsushita's R-31 (1931) was the first three-tube radio.^[94]
• Ryūkōka
  • Kayōkyoku
• Sports animation — Animal Olympic Games, a 1928 animated short film directed by Yasuji Murata, was the first sports anime.^[95]
• Takagi existence theorem — Developed by Teiji Takagi in isolation during World War I. He presented it at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1920.^[96]
• Unreliable narrator (Rashomon effect) — Originates from Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's novel In a Grove (1922), which was adapted into Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon (1950).^[97]
• Vitamin A — In 1922, Umetaro Suzuki succeeded in concentrating and extracting vitamin A.^[63]

• Wirephoto fax — In the early 1920s, Yasujiro Niwa invented the NE-type cable phototelegraphic transmission system, the basis for fax technology in Japan.^[63]

• Yagi–Uda antenna (directive short-wave antenna) — Invented in 1924 by Hidetsugu Yagi and Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai.^[46]

1930s

Mitsubishi A6M Zero (1939) fighter plane, the first aircraft using aluminium-zinc alloy.

• Aluminium-zinc alloy — By alloying zinc with aluminium, Sumitomo Metal Industries developed the 7075 aluminium alloy (extra super duralumin) in 1935.^[98]
  • Aluminium-zinc alloy fighter aircraft — The Mitsubishi A6M Zero (1939) fighter plane was the first vehicle to use the zinc-based 7075 aluminium alloy.^[98]
• Amphibious assault ship — The Japanese amphibious assault ship Shinshū Maru (1934) was a pioneer of modern-day amphibious assault ships.^[99]
  • Dock landing ship — The Shinshū Maru (1934) is regarded as the first dock landing ship.
  • Landing craft carrier — The Shinshū Maru (1934) was the world's first landing craft carrier ship to be designed as such.^[99]

Artificial snow gun in operation.

• Artificial snowflake — The first artificial snowflake was created by Ukichiro Nakaya in 1936, three years after his first attempt.^[100]
• Auto rickshaw — The Mazda-Go (1931) was the first auto rickshaw.^[101]
• Costumed superhero — The kamishibai heroes Ōgon Bat (1930) and Prince of Gamma (early 1930s) were the first caped superheroes with superpowers.^[15]
  • Interstellar superhero with secret identity — Prince of Gamma (early 1930s) was the first interstellar superhero with superpowers and a secret identity.^[15]
• Diesel-powered tank — The Japanese Type 89 I-Go medium tank Otsu was the first diesel-powered tank, produced with a diesel engine from 1934 onwards.
• Direct-drive turntable — In 1939, Denon invented the first direct-drive turntable system.^[102]
• Ferrite magnet — Yogoro Kato and Takeshi Takei of the Tokyo Institute of Technology synthesized the first ferrite compounds in 1930.^[46]
  • Ferrite core — Developed in 1935 by Tokyo Denkikagaku Kogyo (TDK) and Tokyo Institute of Technology.^[46]
• Low angle — Yasujirō Ozu made consistent use of an extremely low camera position to shoot his subjects, a practice traced back to his films of the 1931–1932 period.^[103]
  • Tatami shot — Yasujirō Ozu invented the tatami shot, in which the camera is placed at a low height, roughly the eye level of a person kneeling on a tatami mat.^[104]
  • Kaiju — Yoshirō Edamasa's The Great Buddha Arrival (1934) is one of the earliest examples of a kaiju film in Japanese cinematic history.^[105]
• Mecha — Dai Ningen Tanku from the kamishibai work Ōgon Bat (1930) was the earliest piloted giant humanoid mecha robot.^[15]
  • Transforming robots — Gajo Sakamoto's manga Tank Tankuro (1934) introduced the concept of a transforming robot.^[106]

• Meson — In 1934, Hideki Yukawa predicted the existence and the approximate mass of the meson as the carrier of the nuclear force that holds atomic nuclei together.^[107]
  • Pion — First proposed by Hideki Yukawa in 1935.^[108]
  • Yukawa coupling
  • Yukawa potential
• Neutron scattering — Seishi Kikuchi demonstrated the scattering of fast neutrons in 1934.^[109]
• Nippon Kempo
• Nuclear power — In 1934, Tohoku University professor Hikosaka Tadayoshi proposed the huge energy in atomic nuclei could be used to produce nuclear power generation.^[110]
  • Magic number (physics) — Proposed by Hikosaka Tadayoshi in 1934.^[111]
  • Nuclear reaction with particle accelerator — In 1934, Seishi Kikuchi demonstrated nuclear reactions using an accelerator.^[109]
  • Nuclear shell model — Proposed by Tadayoshi in 1934.^[109]
  • Nuclear weapon — In 1934, Tadayoshi proposed that the huge energy in atomic nuclei could be used to create nuclear weapons.^[112]

• Nylon 6 — A type of synthetic nylon developed by Toray between 1938 and 1941.^[82]
  • Vinylon — The second man-made fiber after nylon. Invented by Ichiro Sakurada, H. Kawakami and Ri Sung-gi at the Takatsuki chemical research center in 1939.^[113]
• Portable electrocardiograph (ECG) — Taro Takemi built the first portable electrocardiograph (ECG) in 1937.^[114]
  • Vectorcardiography (VCG) — Taro Takemi invented the vectorcardiograph in 1939.^[114]
• Probiotic drink — Introduced with Yakult, invented by Minoru Shirota in 1935.^[9]
• Space train — The concept dates back to Kenji Miyazawa's novel Night on the Galactic Railroad (1934) and was popularized by Galaxy Express 999 (1977).^[115]
• Switching circuit theory — From 1934 to 1936, NEC engineer Akira Nakashima introduced switching circuit theory in a series of papers.^[116]
• Tankōbon
• Two-valued Boolean algebra — Discovered independently by NEC engineer Akira Nakashima from 1934 to 1936 with his switching circuit theory.^[116]
• Wind-up toy robot — Lilliput, a Japanese robot introduced in 1932, was the first wind-up toy robot.^[117]

1940s

See also: List of Japanese military equipment of World War II and Japanese nuclear weapons program

Fu-Go balloon bomb in January 1945.

• Buddy cop — Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog (1949), starring Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura as a police duo, was the earliest buddy cop film.^[118]
  • Police procedural film — Stray Dog was a precursor to the modern police procedural film genre.^[118]
• Chromium ballpoint pencil — Ohto's Auto-Pencil (1949), a ballpoint pen shaped like a pencil, was the first writing instrument to use a chrome ball with chrome tip refill.^[119]
• Confocal microscope — In 1942, Zyun Koana described an early confocal microscope.^[120]
  • ECG differential amplifier — Fukuda Denshi's AD-1 (1949) was the first ECG with differential amplifier.^[121]
• Fake food — Simulated food was invented after Japan's surrender ending World War II in 1945. Japanese artisans and candlemakers created wax food initially for foreigners.^[122]
• Fire balloon (balloon bomb) — The Fu-Go balloon bomb was an experimental fire balloon weapon launched by Japan from 1944 to 1945, during World War II.^[123]
• Flash synchronization (flash sync) — The Mamiyaflex (1948) by Mamiya was the first twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) with flash sync.^[124]
• Gateball
• Itô calculus — Developed by Kiyosi Itô in the 1940s. Concepts include Itô integral and Itô's lemma. It is widely used in various fields, especially mathematical finance.^[125]
  • Stochastic calculus — Developed by Kiyosi Itô in the 1940s, involving stochastic integrals and stochastic differential equations based on the Brownian motion or Wiener process.^[125]
  • Stochastic differential equation (SDE) — Invented by Kiyosi Itô in 1942.^[125]
  • Itô diffusion — A diffusion process developed by Kiyosi Itô in 1942.^[125]
• Kamikaze
• Kei car (mini-car) — A category of small automobiles, including passenger cars, vans and pickup trucks. The first kei cars were launched for Japan in 1949.^[126]
• Keirin — Started as a gambling sport in 1948 and became an Olympic sport in 2000.

Akira Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945), the earliest numbered sequel in the history of cinema.

• Mentorship — Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata (1943), Drunken Angel (1948) and Stray Dog (1949) established themes of mentorship and mentor-student relationships in cinema.^[127]
  • Numbered sequel — Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945) was the earliest numbered sequel in the history of cinema.^[128]
• Nuclear fission weapon — Proposed by Japanese scientist Takutaro Hagiwara in the early 1940s.^[111]
  • Thermonuclear bomb — First proposed by Takutaro Hagiwara in 1941.^[111]
• Nuclear pile — In 1941, Hikosaka Tadayoshi proposed a pile-type nuclear reactor.^[109]
  • Fast breeder reactor — Proposed by Tadayoshi in 1944.^[109]
• PIN diode — Invented by Junichi Nishizawa and Yasushi Watanabe in 1949.^[129]
• Polyvinyl alcohol fiber (PVA fiber) — Developed by Kuraray between 1940 and 1950.^[130]
• Quantum electrodynamics (QED) — Shin'ichirō Tomonaga co-developed the field of quantum electrodynamics in the 1940s. He won the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics.^[107]
  • Lamb shift — Co-developed by Shin'ichirō Tomonaga in 1947.^[107]
• Santoku — A general-purpose kitchen knife originating in Japan. This knife was created in the 1940s, known as the santoku bōchō.^[131]
• Schwinger–Tomonaga equation
• Shorinji Kempo
• Steampunk comic — The earliest steampunk manga comics were Osamu Tezuka's Lost World (1948), Metropolis (1949) and Nextworld (1951).^[132]
• Uranium-238 nuclear fission (U238) — In 1941, Hikosaka Tadayoshi reported the chain reaction of uranium fission caused by fast neutrons, noting the fatal factor which breaks the chain reaction is the resonance absorption of neutrons by U238.^[109]
• Yakuza film — Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (1948) was the first film to depict post-war yakuza.^[133]

1950s

See also: Science and technology in Japan and Electronics industry in Japan

Arts

Wikipe-tan as a majokko, the original magical girl archetype.

• Enka
• Kimura lock (gyaku ude-garami) — This judo move was popularized by Masahiko Kimura in 1951. It is commonly used in judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.^[134]
• Magical girl — Princess Knight (1953) was a prototype for the genre. Himitsu no Akko-chan (1962) was the earliest true magical girl series.^[135]
• Metabolism (architecture) — Japanese architectural movement developed by Japanese architects including Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa and Fumihiko Maki.^[136]
• Sports comic — The judo manga series Igaguri-kun by Eiichi Fukui, first published in the manga magazine Bōken'ō in 1952, was the first sports manga.^[137]
• Super robot — This mecha anime and manga subgenre originates from the manga Tetsujin 28 (1956) and was defined by the manga Mazinger Z (1972).^[106]

Cinema

Seven Samurai (1954), an influential samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Godzilla (1954), an early kaiju film directed by Ishirō Honda.

• Blockbuster format — Akira Kurosawa films, especially Seven Samurai (1954), were "the clearest precursor" and "model for" the Hollywood blockbuster format.^[138]
  • Assembling the team — Seven Samurai (1954) originated the "assembling the team" trope, commonly used in action films, sports films and heist films.^[139]
  • Cutting on action — Kurosawa's approach to cutting on motion in films such as Seven Samurai has been widely adopted by many Hollywood blockbuster films.^[127]
  • Evil empire — Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958) established the adventure film trope of rebels against an evil empire, notably inspiring Star Wars (1977).^[140]
• Eastman Color Negative (ECN) — Jigokumon (1953) was the first color film shot using the ECN format, with film processing by Imagica. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.^[141]
• Henshin Hero (transforming hero) — In 1957, Shintoho produced the first Super Giant film serial. The "Henshin Boom" was later popularized by Kamen Rider (1971).^[142]
• Modern action film — Pioneered by Akira Kurosawa, with Seven Samurai (1954) considered to be the first modern action film.^[143]
  • Multi-camera action scene — Pioneered by Kurosawa with films such as Sanshiro Sugata (1943), Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954).^[144]
  • Slow motion action scene — Pioneered by Akira Kurosawa with films such as Sanshiro Sugata (1943), Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954).^[144]
  • Opening action scene — Seven Samurai (1954) established the common action film trope where the action hero is introduced in an action opening scene unrelated to the film's larger plot.^[127]
• New Wave cinema (Japanese New Wave) — In the early 1960s, film historians credited Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) as the start of the international New Wave cinema movement, which gained popularity during the late 1950s to early 1960s.^[145]

• Suitmation (giant monster suit) — Eiji Tsuburaya, while working on Godzilla (1954), formulated the special effects technique of suitmation, the use of a human actor in a costume to play a giant monster combined with miniatures and scaled-down sets.^[146]
• Suit actor — A notable early example was Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima.^[147]

Sciences

Leo Esaki in 1959. Pioneer of quantum tunnelling with tunnel diode and semiconductor superlattice.

• Ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) — Developed by Kuraray between 1957 and 1964.^[130]
• Frontier molecular orbital theory — Kenichi Fukui developed and published a paper on frontier molecular orbital theory in 1952.^[107]
• Itô's lemma — This result was discovered by Kiyoshi Itô in 1951.^[148]
• Iwasawa theory — Initially created by Kenkichi Iwasawa in 1959, Iwasawa theory was originally developed as a Galois module theory of ideal class groups.^[149]
  • Main conjecture of Iwasawa theory — Proved by Iwasawa for primes satisfying the Kummer–Vandiver conjecture.^[149]
• Quantum tunnelling — Leo Esaki circa 1957–1958 demonstrated tunneling of electrons over few nanometre (nm) wide barrier in a semiconductor structure with tunnel diode.^[107]
• Sakata model (quark model) — A precursor to the quark model, the Sakata model was proposed by Shoichi Sakata in 1956.^[150]
• Yoshizawa–Randlett system — A diagramming system used for origami models, first developed by Akira Yoshizawa in 1954.^[151]

Biomedical science

See also: Health in Japan

Instant noodles before boiling

• Audiometer — Nihon Kohden's MAW-1 White Noise Audiometer (1951) was the first audiometer.^[152]
  • Direct-writing electroencephalograph (EEG) — Nihon Kohden's ME-1D (1951) was the first 8-channel direct-writing electroencephalograph (EEG) using AC power.^[152]
• Dopamine in striatum — In 1959, Isamu Sano discovered a high concentration of dopamine in the striatum.^[67]
  • Dopamine reduction in Parkinson's disease — In 1959, Isamu Sano discovered the reduction of dopamine in patients with Parkinson's disease.^[67]
• Esophagogastroduodenoscope (EGD) — Mutsuo Sugiura invented the first gastrocamera (EGD), an endoscope camera. Released as the Olympus GT-1 (1950).^[153]
• Glutamate (neurotransmitter) — The first suggestion that glutamate might function as a neurotransmitter came from Takashi Hayashi in 1952.^[67]
  • Inhibitory GABA — In 1956, Takashi Hayashi discovered the inhibitory action of GABA.^[67]
• Instant noodle (instant ramen) — Invented by Momofuku Ando, a Taiwanese-Japanese inventor, in 1958.^[9]
• Interferon — In 1954, interferon (virus inhibition factor) was discovered by Yasuichi Nagano and Yasuhiko Kojima.^[60]
• Medical monitor — In 1957, JVC introduced a medical CRT display with deflection yoke technology. In 1972, JVC introduced the first 12‑inch raster display medical CRT monitor.^[154]

Technology

Automatic rice cooker.

• Automatic photo print washer — In 1951, Noritsu founder Kan'ichi Nishimoto invented an automatic photo print washer by applying the principles behind a water wheel.^[155]
• Automatic rice cooker — Invented by husband–wife team Yoshitada Minami and Fumiko Minami circa 1951–1955. Commercialized by Toshiba in 1955.^[86]
• Conveyor belt sushi

Canon Pixma TS207 inkjet printer by Canon Inc.

• Inkjet printing — First extensively developed by Canon in the early 1950s. While working at Canon, Ichiro Endo suggested the idea for a bubble jet printer.^[156]
• Low cab forward light truck – In 1959, Isuzu introduced the first 2-ton light-duty low cab forward (LCF) truck, a predecessor of the Isuzu Elf N-Series trucks.^[157]
• Modelguns — Japan's Model Gun Collection, founded in 1959, was the first manufacturer of modelguns, which they debuted in 1962.^[158]
• Ninjatō
• Toy warranty — In 1955, a toy product guarantee system was first launched with Bandai's Toyopet Crown model car.^[159]

Audio

Sony TR-63 pocket transistor radio advertisement in 1957.

• Ansafone — Invented by Kazuo Hashimoto circa 1954–1958 for PhoneTel, which in 1960 began selling the first answering machines in the US.^[160]
• Electrostatic headphones — The Stax SR-1 were the first electrostatic headphones, developed between 1959 and 1960 by Stax Ltd.^[161]
• Paper audio record — In 1950, Yoshiro Nakamatsu invented the Jūshoku record, an optical sound media which uses a printed paper sheet instead of transparent film.^[162]
  • Moving coil magnetic cartridge — In 1951, Denon invented the first moving coil cartridge.^[102]
• Pocket radio — The Sony TR-63 (1957) was the first portable transistor radio that could fit in a pocket.^[163]
• Portable audio player — The Denon R-26-F (1951) was the first portable audio tape recorder.^[164]

Cameras

Nikon F professional SLR camera with Nikkor S Auto 5.8cm f/1.4 lens (1959)

• Depth of field (DOF) — The Nikon F (1959) introduced a DOF preview button.^[165]
  • Electric motor drive — The Nikon F (1959) was the first camera with an electric motor drive.^[166]
• Full-frame SLR camera — The Nikon F (1959) was the first single-lens reflex (SLR) camera with full frame coverage.^[165]
  • Half-frame camera — The Olympus Pen F (1963) was the first half-frame SLR camera.^[153]
• Instant return mirror — The Asahiflex IIB (1954) was the first SLR camera with a practical instant return mirror.^[167]
• Single-lens reflex system camera (system SLR) — The Nikon F (1959) was the first SLR system camera.^[166]
• Bayonet lens mount — The Nikon F-mount, debuted with the Nikon F (1959), was the first interchangeable lens bayonet mount.^[166]
• Multi-layer optical coating — The first multi-layer lens coating was the "Super-Multi-Coating" introduced by Pentax in the 1950s.^[167]
• Through-the-lens metering (TTL) — The Nikon SPX (1950) prototype rangefinder camera was the first camera to feature TTL light metering.^[168]

Computing

Casio Model 14-A, developed between 1954 and 1957, was the first all‑electric desktop calculator.

• Computer reservation system — MARS, developed by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and Hitachi in 1958, was the first seat reservation system for trains.^[169]
  • Online transaction processing — MARS (1958) introduced online real-time processing.^[169]
• Electric desktop calculator — The Casio Model 14-A, developed between 1954 and 1957, was the first all‑electric desktop calculator.^[170]
• Machine translation — Yamato, a computer developed by Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) between 1958 and 1959, was an early machine translation system translating between Japanese and English.^[169]
• Parametron computer — The first parametron computers were Tokyo University's PD1516 (1956) and NTT's MUSASINO-1 (1957).^[169]
• Stored-program transistor computer — Electrotechnical Laboratory's ETL Mark III, which began development in 1954 and was completed in 1956, was the first stored-program transistor computer.^[169]

Display technology

See also: Television in Japan

Sony TV8-301, developed between 1958 and 1960, was the first all‑transistor electronic TV set.

• All-transistor television set — The Sony TV8-301, developed between 1958 and 1960, was the first all-transistor portable solid-state electronic television (TV).^[163]
  • Portable television — The Sony TV8-301, developed from 1958 to 1959, was the first portable direct-view television.^[163]
• Autostereoscopic 3D TV (parallax barrier) — In the late 1950s, NHK developed a prototype autostereoscopic 3D TV using parallax barrier technology.^[171]
• Digital wristwatch — In 1953, Yoshiro Nakamatsu invented the first prototype wristwatch with a digital display.^[162]
• Helical scan video tape recorder (VTR) — Invented by Norikazu Sawazaki in 1953. In 1959, Toshiba released the first commercial helical scan VTR.^[172]
• Instant replay — In 1957, NHK began instant replay broadcasts of sumo wrestling events, rewinding the video tape after a match to replay the contest.^[173]
• Inter-frame motion compensation (MC) — In 1959, NHK's Y. Taki, M. Hatori and S. Tanaka proposed predictive inter-frame MC digital video coding.^[174]

Energy technology

See also: Energy in Japan

A tower type uninterruptible power supply (UPS) unit.

• Electro-hydraulic actuator — In 1959, FANUC developed the first electrohydraulic pulse motor.^[175]
• Metal-jacket dry battery — Matsushita's Hyper Dry Cell Battery (1954) was the first full-metal-jacket dry battery with longer battery life.^[94]

• Solar module — Between 1959 and early 1963, Sharp developed the first commercial solar module.^[176]
• Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) — Developed by Fuji Electric in the early 1950s and demonstrated in 1954.^[177]

Microtechnology

Semiconductor lasers, including blue laser in the middle.

• Avalanche breakdown — Between 1952 and 1953, Junichi Nishizawa discovered the avalanche effect in semiconductors.^[178]
• Field-effect transistor (FET)
  • Junction FET (JFET) — In 1950, Junichi Nishizawa and Yasushi Watanabe invented the static induction transistor (SIT), the first JFET and the first practical FET.^[1]
• Ion implantation — Discovered by Junichi Nishizawa in 1950.^[178]
  • Epitaxy — Junichi Nishizawa invented electroepitaxy in 1955, photoepitaxy in 1961, and gallium arsenide (GaAs) molecular layer epitaxy (MLE) in 1984.^[178]
• Microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (maser) — In 1955, Junichi Nishizawa invented the first solid-state maser.^[179]
  • Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (laser) — The laser was invented by Junichi Nishizawa and Yasushi Watanabe in early 1957.^[1]
• Parametron — Invented by Eiichi Goto in 1954 as an alternative to the vacuum tube. Early Japanese computers used parametrons until superseded by transistors.^[180]
• Photodiode (PIN photodiode) — Invented by Junichi Nishizawa in 1950.^[178]
  • Avalanche diode (avalanche photodiode) — Junichi Nishizawa invented the avalanche photodiode in 1952 and avalanche injection diode in 1958.^[178]
• PNP transistor — Invented by Junichi Nishizawa in 1950.^[178]
• Semiconductor laser (laser diode) — Invented by Junichi Nishizawa and Yasushi Watanabe in early 1957.^[1]
• Tunnel diode (Esaki diode) — Invented in August 1957 by Leo Esaki and Yuriko Kurose while working at Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, now known as Sony.^[163]
  • Tunnel injection — In 1958, Junichi Nishizawa invented the first tunnel injection diode, a transit-time diode with tunnel injection of electrons (TUNNETT).^[178]
• Variable capacitance diode (varicap) — Junichi Nishizawa invented the hyperabrupt variable capacitance diode in 1959.^[178]

Textiles

Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 (1966) sneaker shoes.

• Nylon shoe — Onitsuka Tiger's After Boots (1954) were the first shoes made with nylon.^[181]
  • Synthetic rubber shoe sole — Onitsuka Tiger's Rubber Sponge Shoe (1956) was the first shoe with synthetic rubber sponge sole.^[181]
• Suction cup shoe — In 1951, Onitsuka Tiger introduced the first suction cup basketball sneakers.^[181]
• Wrestling shoe — In 1955, Onitsuka Tiger introduced the first specialized wrestling shoe. It is the archetype of the modern wrestling shoe.^[181]

1960s

Arts

See also: Japanese art

Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961) introduced the Man with No Name character archetype.

• Binge-viewing — Shōnen Jump (founded 1968) developed a formula of compiling chapters into standalone tankōbon volumes that could be "binged" all at once.^[182]
• Bullet time — The bullet time visual effect originated as a cel animation effect in the anime series Speed Racer (1967).^[183]
• Cosplay — Dates back to 1960s Japan. The term "cosplay" was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi in 1983.^[184]
• Kyodai Hero (giant hero) — This tokusatsu superhero subgenre initially began with the Japanese film Ghidorah (1964), where Godzilla is a prototypical Kyodai hero, paving the way for the Kyodai hero franchise Ultraman (1966).^[185]
• Kyokan — A concept forwarded by Masao Kawai. It first appeared to Western readers in Kawai's book Ecology of Japanese Monkeys (1969).^[186]
• Lone Wolf and Cub — The genre began with Osamu Tezuka's manga Dororo (1967) and Kazuo Koike's manga Lone Wolf and Cub (1970).^[187]
• Love hotel — Originates from Osaka's Hotel Love, opened in 1968.^[188]
• Media mix — Began in 1960s Japan.^[189]
• Man with No Name — A stock character that originated with Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), where the archetype was first portrayed by Toshirō Mifune. The archetype was adapted by Sergio Leone for his Spaghetti Western Dollars Trilogy.^[127]
• New Formalism architecture — Architectural style co-developed by Minoru Yamasaki in the mid-20th century. He used it for the design of the original World Trade Center, completed in 1973.^[190]
• Time loop — The earliest novel about a time loop was Yasutaka Tsutsui's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1965).^[191]

Audio

Shin-ei Uni-Vibe (1968) phaser effects pedal used by Jimi Hendrix.

• 3.5 mm headphone jack — Introduced with Sony's EFM-117J transistor radio in 1964.^[192]
• Delta-sigma modulation (ΔΣ) — In 1962, ΔΣ digital sampling was defined and named in 1962 by University of Tokyo researchers H. Inose, Y. Yasuda and J. Murakami.^[193]
• Digital audio recorder — In 1967, Heitaro Nakajima of NHK began work on the digitization of sound. By 1969, he developed the first digital audio tape recorder.^[163]
  • Digital audio stereo sound — In 1969, NHK developed the first 2-channel stereo PCM digital audio recorder.^[194]
• Electronic drum — Ikutaro Kakehashi's R1 Rhythm Ace (1964) was the first fully transistorized electronic drum manually hand‑operated like electronic drum pads.^[195]
  • Phaser effects pedal — Shin-ei Uni-Vibe (1968) effects pedal designed by Fumio Mieda had phase shift and chorus effects. Famously used by Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower.^[196]
  • DJ direct-drive turntable (turntablism) — Technics SP-10 (1969), invented by Shuichi Obata at Matsushita Electric, was the first direct-drive turntable used for DJ turntablism.^[94]
• Home stereo system — In 1962, Pioneer Corporation introduced the world's first home stereo system with detachable loudspeakers.^[197]
• Integrated amplifier (amp) — Sony TA-1120 (1965) was the first silicon transistor stereo integrated amplifier, with higher output and lower distortion than vacuum tube amps.^[198]
• Karaoke — Sparko Box, invented by Shigeichi Negishi in 1967, was the first karaoke machine. Karaoke was later popularized by Daisuke Inoue's machine released in 1972.^[9]
• Microcassette — Olympus Corporation's Zuiko Pearlcoder (1969) was the first microcassette tape recorder.^[153]
• Speech coding
  • Linear predictive coding (LPC) — LPC speech coding was developed by Fumitada Itakura of Nagoya University and Shuzo Saito of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in 1966.^[199]
  • Itakura–Saito distance — Fumitada Itakura and Shuzo Saito first presented the Itakura–Saito distance algorithm in 1968.^[199]
  • Partial correlation speech synthesis (PARCOR) — Invented at NTT in 1969.^[200]
• Speech recognition — In 1966, Fumitada Itakura and Shuzo Saito developed an early practical speech recognition algorithm using LPC.^[199]

Music

See also: Music of Japan

Isao Tomita in 1977. He was a pioneer of ambient music and space music.

• Ambient music — Pioneered by Japanese electronic music composer Isao Tomita during the late 1960s to early 1970s.^[201]
• Commercial digital recording — Pioneered in Japan by NHK and Nippon Columbia (Denon) in the 1960s. The first commercial digital recordings were released in 1971.^[194]
• J-pop — Roots in traditional music of Japan, significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. Genre began with Japanese rock bands such as Happy End during the 1960s–1970s.^[202]
  • City pop — Origin is attributed to the band Happy End (Haruomi Hosono, Takashi Matsumoto, Eiichi Ohtaki and Shigeru Suzuki), active from 1969 to 1972.^[203]
• Noise rock — The genre was pioneered by Japanoise band Les Rallizes Dénudés, founded in 1967.^[204]
• Visual kei — Kenji Sawada of The Tigers (1967–1972) was a precursor. Style emerged in early 1980s with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Masami Tsuchiya, Boøwy and Kinniku Shōjo Tai.^[205]

Computing

• Cathode-ray tube raster graphics computer monitor (CRT raster monitor) — In the 1960s, Hitachi introduced a raster graphics CRT monitor for computer terminals.^[206]
• Compact office computer — A class of computers smaller than minicomputers. Used in Japan circa 1960s–1970s. Casio's TUC Compuwriter (1961) was the first.^[169]
• Direct numerical control (DNC) — In 1968, FANUC developed the first DNC, a type of computer numerical control (CNC).^[175]
• Frame memory — In 1969, NHK developed 20 megabyte (MB) disk storage for video images, used with a minicomputer for their prototype Hi-Vision analog HDTV system.^[207]
• Information society — The concept originates from Japan, where the term Joho Shakai (information society) was first coined by the periodical Hoso Asahi in 1964.^[208]
• Integrated circuit minicomputer — NEC's NEAC-1240 (1967) was the first minicomputer to use integrated circuit (IC) chips.^[209]
• Mail sorter with optical character recognition (OCR) — Developed by Toshiba between 1966 and 1967.^[85]
• Multi-processor computer — The FACOM 230-60 (1968) was the first multi-processor computer.^[69]

Artificial intelligence

Object detection using a convolutional neural network (CNN) deep learning AI model.

• Activation function — Dates back to Kunihiko Fukushima's development of the rectified linear unit (ReLU) activation function in 1969.^[210]
  • Rectified linear unit (ReLU) — In 1969, Kunihiko Fukushima introduced ReLU in the context of visual feature extraction in hierarchical neural networks.^[211]
• Artificial neural network (ANN) with deep learning and stochastic gradient descent (SGD) — First proposed by Shun'ichi Amari in 1967.^[211]
  • Backpropagation — Anticipated by Shun'ichi Amari in the 1960s.^[212]
  • Multilayer perceptron (MLP) with stochastic gradient descent — In 1967, Shun'ichi Amari and H. Saito reported the first multi-layered ANN trained by SGD.^[211]
• Computer vision — Pioneered at Visual and Auditory Information Science Unit (VAISU) of NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (NHK STRL) in the 1960s.^[213]
  • Feature extraction — Developed at the VAISU unit of NHK STRL in the 1960s.^[213]
  • Image analysis — Developed at the VAISU unit of NHK STRL in the 1960s.^[213]
• Convolutional neural network (CNN) — A deep learning feedforward neural network first developed by Kunihiko Fukushima between 1969 and 1979. It forms the basis of contemporary pattern recognition AI.^[213]
  • Neocognitron — A hierarchical multi-layered CNN first developed by Kunihiko Fukushima between 1969 and 1979.^[213]
• Machine vision — Pioneered by Hitachi researchers in 1964.^[214]
• Text-to-speech (TTS) — In 1968, Noriko Umeda's team at ETL developed the first general English text-to-speech system.^[215]
• Visual recognition — Pioneered at the VAISU unit of NHK STRL in the 1960s.^[213]

Calculators

Sharp QT-8D Micro Compet (1969), the first handheld calculator with LSI chip and VFD display.

• Desktop calculator with parametron — Oi Electric's Aleph-Zero 101, developed in 1963 and released in 1964, was the first desktop calculator using parametrons.^[69]
  • Transistor desktop calculator — The Sharp CS-10A (1964) was the first all-transistor-diode desktop electronic calculator.^[176]
  • 10-key electronic calculator — The first ten-key electronic calculator was the Canon Canola 130 (1964).^[216]
  • Calculator memory — The Casio 001 (1965) was the first electronic calculator with a memory function.^[217]
• Integrated circuit calculator (IC calculator) — Sharp circa 1964–1966 developed the CS-31A, the first electronic calculator incorporating IC chips.^[218]
  • MOS integrated circuit calculator (MOS calculator) — In 1966, NEC developed the first metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) calculator IC chip for Hayakawa Electric (Sharp).^[219]
  • Software programmable calculator — The Casio AL-1000 (1967) was the first electronic desktop calculator capable of software programming.^[170]
  • Handheld calculator — The Sharp QT-8D Micro Compet (1969) was the first commercial electronic calculator that could be held in the palm of a hand.^[73]
  • Large-scale integration calculator (LSI calculator) — The Sharp QT-8D Micro Compet (1969) was the first calculator to use large-scale integration (LSI) MOS IC chips.^[206]
• LCD calculator — Between 1968 and 1970, Sharp developed the first prototype desktop calculators with LCD displays.^[220]
• Vacuum fluorescent display calculator (VFD calculator) — The Sharp QT-8D Micro Compet (1969) was the first calculator to use a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD).^[221]

Culture

See also: Culture of Japan and Japanese popular culture

Nagoya Daigaku Station with yellow tactile paving on the Nagoya Municipal Subway.

• Clarino — A synthetic leather developed by Kuraray in 1964.^[130]
  • Clarino shoe — In 1966, Onitsuka Tiger (Asics) released the first athletic shoes using Clarino.^[181]
• Three-layer material shoe — In 1967, Onitsuka Tiger introduced marathon shoes with a three-layer material combining nylon twill, polyurethane foam and nylon tricot.^[181]
• Automated teller machine (ATM) — In 1965, the Computer Loan Machine in Japan was the first ATM cash machine.^[222]
• Capsule toy (Gashapon)
• Konbini
• Retractable ballpoint pen — In 1962, Ohto released the first commercial retractable ballpoint pen.^[119]
  • Tungsten carbide ballpoint pen — In 1963, Ohto introduced the first ballpoint pen with tungsten carbide ball.^[119]
  • Transparent ballpoint pen refill — In 1964, Ohto manufactured the first ballpoint pen refill with transparent pipe.^[119]

• Rollerball pen — The first rollerball pen was invented by Ohto in 1963 and released in 1964.^[119]
• Shokken — A meal ticket vending machine for ordering food. It was invented by Omron in 1963.^[223]

• Tactile paving — The original tactile paving was developed by Seiichi Miyake in 1965. The paving was first introduced on a street in Okayama, Japan, in 1967.^[9]
• Wand vibrator — Hitachi Magic Wand (1968) was the first wand vibrator. Originally designed as a massage device, it later became popular as a sex toy.^[224]

Motor vehicles

See also: Automotive industry in Japan

Nissan GT-R PGC10 (1969), the first production car with 4-valve DOHC.

• 4-valve dual overhead camshaft (DOHC) — The Nissan Skyline GT-R (C10), released in 1969, was the first production vehicle with a 4-valve DOHC.^[225]
• Automatic car door — Introduced for Japanese taxi vehicles in 1964.^[226]
• Automatic transmission mini-car — Honda N360 AT (1968).^[227]
• Head restraint (head rest) — In 1968, Mazda Porter trucks and vans were the first production vehicles equipped with a head rest as standard equipment.^[228]
• Multi-rotary engine — Mazda Wankel engine (1960s) was the first twin rotary engine, commercialized with Mazda Cosmo Sports (1967). Mazda's 20B (1987) was the first three-rotor engine. Mazda 13J (1987) was the first four-rotor engine.^[228]
• Parallel axis system — Introduced by the Hondamatic system with the Honda N360 AT (1968). It is used in most Honda automatic and semi-automatic vehicles.^[227]
• Vehicle inverter — In 1968, Toyo Denki developed the first inverter for production vehicles.^[229]

Motorcycles

Honda CB750 (1969), the first superbike.

• Front disc brake — The Honda CB750 (1969) was the first mass-production motorcycle with front disc brake.^[230]
  • Hydraulic disc brakes — The CB750 (1969) was the first production motorcycle with hydraulic disc brakes.^[231]
• Superbike — The Honda CB750 (1969) was the first superbike.^[232]
  • Double cradle frame — The CB750 (1969) was the first mass-production motorcycle with a double cradle motorcycle frame.^[231]
  • Four mufflers — The CB750 (1969) was the first mass-production motorcycle with four mufflers.^[231]
  • Straight-four SOHC — The CB750 (1969) was the first mass-produced motorcycle with a parallel four-cylinder single overhead camshaft (SOHC) motorcycle engine.^[231]
• Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM) — Coined in the 1970s to describe the proliferation of Japanese standard motorcycles following the Honda CB750 (1969).^[233]

Sciences

Yoichiro Nambu in 1965. He discovered spontaneous symmetry breaking.

• Climate model (general circulation model) — Co-developed by Syukuro Manabe in the 1960s, for which he was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.^[107]
• Hironaka's example — A non-Kähler complex manifold that is a deformation of Kähler manifolds. Discovered by Heisuke Hironaka in the early 1960s.^[234]
• Isotropic magnet — Developed by Matsushita in 1967.^[200]
• Neutral theory of molecular evolution — First introduced by Motoo Kimura in 1968.^[235]
• Photocatalysis — Akira Fujishima discovered photocatalysis occurring on the surface of titanium dioxide in 1967.^[236]
• Polyethylene glycol (PEG) — Developed by Sanyo Chemical in 1960.^[237]
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking — Discovered by Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa circa 1960–1972. They won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics.^[107]
• Synthetic fluorite — In 1968, synthetic fluorite was first successfully mass-produced by Canon.^[238]
• Tomonaga–Luttinger liquid

Biomedical science

A digital Omron HJ-112 pedometer fitness tracker.

• 10,000 steps — In 1963, Iwao Ohya proposed the ideal of walking 10,000 steps a day, popularized by the Manpo-kei (10,000 step) pedometer released by Yamasa in 1965.^[239]
• 3D holographic radiography (holographic X-ray) — In 1969, Tadashi Kasahara's Konishiroku and Tokyo University group invented 3D holographic X-ray imaging.^[171]
• Amino acid analyzer — JEOL's JLC-5AH (1968) was the first amino acid analyzer.^[240]
• Amino acid neurotransmitter — Between the 1960s and 1970s, Masanori Otsuka established GABA as the first amino acid neurotransmitter.^[67]
  • Substance P neuropeptide — Between the 1960s and 1970s, Masanori Otsuka established substance P (SP) as the first peptide neurotransmitter.^[67]
• Canned coffee — Invented in 1965 by Miura Yoshitake, a coffee shop owner in Hamada, Shimane Prefecture, Japan.^[241]
• DOPA treatment for Parkinson's disease — In 1960, Isamu Sano discovered the use of DOPA as a treatment for Parkinson's disease.^[67]
• Fiber gastroscope — Introduced by Olympus in 1964.^[242]

• Fitness tracker (pedometer) — Juri Kato produced Yamasa's Manpo-kei (10,000 step meter), the first modern pedometer (step-counter) wearable technology, released 1965.^[239]
  • Digital blood pressure monitor — Omron under Kazuma Tateishi circa 1961–1973 developed the first digital blood pressure monitor, released as HEM-1 (1973).^[243]
• Flexible bronchoscopy — Shigeto Ikeda invented the flexible fiber bronchoscope in 1966.^[244]
• Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) — Discovered by Yukio Fukuyama, Tatsushi Toda and Tamao Endo in 1960.^[245]
• Immunoglobulin E (IgE) — Antibody only found in mammals. It was discovered during 1966–1967 by Kimishige Ishizaka's team at the Children's Asthma Research Institute and Hospital in Denver, Colorado.^[246]
• Okazaki fragment — DNA fragments formed on lagging template strand during DNA replication. Discovered in 1966 by Reiji Okazaki, Tsuneko Okazaki and Kiwako Sakabe.^[247]
  • Bacteriophage DNA replication — In 1967, Okazaki fragments were further investigated by Okazaku's research team including the study on bacteriophage DNA replication in Escherichia coli.^[248]
• Retort pouch — In 1968, Otsuka Foods Company in Japan introduced the first retort food product, a Japanese curry called Bon Curry.^[249]

Technology

Bifacial solar panel installation.

• Aeroderivative gas turbine — IM350 (1965) by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) was the first commercial aero‑derivative gas turbine.^[250]
• Bifacial solar cell (BSC) — BFC solar cell was proposed by Hiroshi Mori in 1960 while at Hayakawa Denki Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Sharp).^[251]
• Bipedal robot — Invented at Tokyo University in 1967.^[252]
  • Android — Waseda University initiated the WABOT project in 1967, and in 1972 completed the WABOT-1. It was the first android.^[253]
  • Intelligent robot — WABOT-1 was the first full-scale humanoid intelligent robot.^[254]
• Digital printing — Seiko Epson's EP-101 (1968) was the first compact digital printer.^[255]
  • Electronic printer — The EP-101 (1968) was the first electronic mini-printer.^[256]

• Film processor — Noritsu's RF−20E (1961) black-and-white film processor automated the black-and-white film development process for the first time.^[155]

Inverter on a free-standing solar plant.

• Inverter (power inverter) — Between 1962 and 1966, Fuji Electric invented the first power inverter using thyristor technology.^[177]
  • Three-phase inverter — Introduced by Fuji Electric in 1966.^[177]
  • Variable-frequency drive (AC drive) — Yaskawa's VS-616T (developed 1960s–1974) is the first pulse-width modulation variable-speed power transistor AC inverter drive.^[257]
• Mechatronics — The term was coined and defined by Yaskawa senior engineer Tetsuro Mori in 1969.^[258]
• Permanent fuse — Introduced by Mitsubishi in 1969.^[259]
• Piezoelectric ceramics (PCM) — Developed by Matsushita in 1966.^[260]
• Semiconductor superlattice — Developed by Leo Esaki in 1968.^[60]
• Serial impact dot matrix printer (SIDM) — The Oki Wiredot (1968) was the first SIDM printer. It supported a character generator for 128 characters with a 7×5 print matrix.^[169]

Cameras

Sony DV-2400 Portapak (1966), the first video camera recorder used for electronic news gathering.

• 3D holographic stereo camera — In 1968, Konishiroku (Konica) invented the first holographic 3D camera, using holographic multi-lens stereogram technology.^[261]
• CdS meter — In 1962, the Taron Marquis from Japan was the first camera with built-in cadmium sulfide (CdS) light meter, shortly followed by the Minolta SR-7.^[124]
  • Center-weighted average metering — The Nikon F Photomic TN (1967) was the first camera with a center-weighted exposure metering system.^[165]
• Close range correction (CRC) — Nikon's Nikkor Auto 24mm f/2.8 (1967) was the first camera lens with a CRC system.^[165]
  • Fluorite lens — In 1969, Canon introduced the first camera lens employing fluorite.^[238]
• Fisheye lens for 35 mm camera — In 1962, Nikon introduced the first regular production fisheye lens for 35 mm cameras.^[262]
• Handheld TV camera — Ikegami Tsushinki introduced the first portable 4+1⁄2-inch image orthicon tube handheld TV camera, making its US debut in February 1962.^[263]
  • Video camera recorder — Sony's Portapak (1965) was the first self-contained portable camera and video tape analog recording system.^[264]
  • Electronic news gathering (ENG) — Sony's Portapak (1965) led to the emergence of ENG, guerrilla television and video art.^[264]
  • HD video camera — In 1969, NHK STRL demonstrated the first prototype Hi-Vision 1125i analog HDTV video camera.^[207]
• Metal-bladed focal-plane shutter — The Konica F (1960) introduced a new metal-bladed focal-plane shutter designed and manufactured by Konishiroku, which they branded the Hi Synchro.^[265]
  • Electronic shutter — Yashica's TL Electro-X (1968) was the first 35 mm SLR camera with an electronically timed shutter.^[124]
• Perspective-control lens (PC lens) — The Nikon F-mount f/3.5 35 mm PC-Nikkor (1961) was the first PC lens manufactured for SLR cameras.^[266]
  • Tilt–shift photography — Nikon's PC-Nikkor (1961) was the first interchangeable tilt-shift lens for SLR cameras.^[266]
• Shutter priority auto-exposure — The Konica Autoreflex (1965) was the first SLR camera with shutter priority auto‑exposure.^[124]
• SLR camera TTL metering — In 1964, Topcon launched the first SLR camera with TTL full-aperture metering system.^[267]
• Space camera — Konica's Minolta Hi-Matic was the first camera taken into outer space on a human spaceflight mission by astronaut John Glenn in 1962.^[268]
• Superzoom — The Nikon Super Zoom-8 (1966) introduced 5× zoom lens. The Nikon 8X Super Zoom (1967) introduced 8× zoom. The Nikon R10 Super Zoom (1973) introduced 10× zoom.^[165]
• Ultra wide angle lens — In 1968, Nikon's Masaki Isshiki and Keiji Matsuki filed a patent for super wide fisheye lens with 220° to 270° field of view.^[269]

Display technology

Sony Trinitron CRT monitor using aperture grille technology.

• Aperture grille — One of two major CRT display technologies, along with shadow mask. Aperture grile was introduced by Sony with their Trinitron TV set in 1968.^[83]
  • Flyback transformer — In 1968, Matsushita invented the first winding-free high‑voltage flyback transformer for TV receivers using piezoelectric ceramics.^[260]
  • Integrated circuit color TV (IC TV) — In 1969, Toshiba released an early color TV with IC chip. In 1971, they released the first color TV with mostly IC chips.^[85]
  • Automatic fine tuning (AFT) — In 1969, Toshiba released the first color TV with AFT IC chip technology.^[85]
• Digital video (disk storage) — In 1969, NHK developed 20 MB disk storage for video images, used with a minicomputer for their prototype Hi-Vision HDTV system.^[207]
• HDTV (HD video) — NHK STRL circa 1964–1969 developed Hi-Vision 1125i analog HDTV, demonstrated in 1969 with monochrome HD CRT monitor and video camera.^[207]
• Satellite TV — NEC's high-sensitivity satellite communication receiver system was used to relay the 1963 Kennedy assassination and 1964 Tokyo Olympics live TV broadcast.^[270]
  • Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) — The first practical direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service was co-developed by NHK, NASDA and Toshiba circa 1965–1984.^[46]

U-matic, the first videocassette format, developed by Sony between 1968 and 1971.

• Transistor VTR — The Sony SV-201 (1961) was the first transistor-based VTR. The Sony CV-2000 (1965) was the first all-transistor consumer VTR.^[198]
  • Home video — The Sony CV-2000 (1965) was the first commercial VTR for home use.^[163]
  • Videocassette — The first video cassette tape format was Sony's U-matic, developed by Nobutoshi Kihara's team circa 1968–1969 and commercialized in 1971.^[163]

• Vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) — In 1966, ISE Electronics established the basic VFD structure. They developed a single‑digit VFD in 1967 and multi-digit VFD in 1970.^[271]
• Wide view 3D holographic projection — Developed by Takanori Okoshi between 1968 and 1980.^[272]

Domestic appliances

See also: Toilets in Japan

A modern Panasonic microwave oven.

• Biodegradable laundry detergent (alpha-olefin sulfonate) — Lion Corporation's Dash (1967) was the first laundry detergent containing the biodegradable surfactant AOS.^[273]
• Cartridge vacuum cleaner — Panasonic's Taro SC-3000 (1968) was the first dust‑collecting vacuum cleaner using a cassette.^[94]

• Ductless air conditioner (mini-split) — In 1961, Toshiba introduced the first ductless mini-split air conditioner (AC).^[274]
  • Cross-flow fan — In 1968, Mitsubishi introduced the first wall-mounted mini‑split AC with cross-flow fan.^[259]
  • Portable air conditioner (AC) — In 1968, Toshiba introduced the first set-free room air conditioner that could be moved around the room.^[85]
• Dual flush toilet — In 1960, the first dual flush toilet system was developed by Toto Ltd.^[275]
  • Electronic bidet toilet — The INAX Sanitarina 61 (1967) was the first commercial bidet toilet with warm water spray and drying functions.^[276]
• Microwave oven with turntable — Invented by Sharp between 1964 and 1966, to promote more even heating of food.^[73]
• Whitening toothpaste (calcium phosphate) — White Lion (1961) by Lion Dentifrice was the first toothpaste incorporating calcium phosphate for tooth whitening.^[273]

Microtechnology

See also: Semiconductor industry in Japan

Electron-beam lithography (EBL) setup.

• Clocked CMOS (C²MOS) — In 1969, Toshiba developed C²MOS, a circuit technology with lower power consumption and faster operating speed than earlier CMOS.^[206]
• Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) — Toshiba's Toscal BC-1411 (1965) calculator introduced DRAM, using bipolar transistors and capacitors as memory cells.^[277]
  • NMOS logic semiconductor memory — In 1968, NEC introduced a 144-bit NMOS static random-access memory (SRAM) chip, using NMOS transistors.^[206]
• Electron-beam lithography (EBL) — Sanyo developed the first EBL system, demonstrated at the 1964 International Electron Devices Meeting.^[278]

• Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) — The IGBT mode of operation was first proposed by K. Yamagami and Y. Akagiri of Mitsubishi in 1968.^[279]

Intel 4004 (1971), the first single‑chip microprocessor, was co‑designed by Masatoshi Shima.

• Optic crystals — In 1961, Junichi Nishizawa proposed crystal growth using optical energy. In 1963, he demonstrated an optically excited crystal growth method for silicon.^[1]

• Power MOSFET — In 1969, Hitachi introduced the first vertical power MOSFET.^[280]
  • Double-diffused MOSFET (DMOS) — In 1969, DMOS with self-aligned gate was first reported by Toshihiro Sekigawa's team at Electrotechnical Laboratory.^[281]
  • V-groove MOSFET (VMOS) — Invented by Hitachi in 1969.^[280]
• Silicon carbide power semiconductor — Hiroyuki Matsunami pioneered the application of silicon carbide in power electronics between 1968 and 1986.^[245]
• Three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) — In 1969, a 3D IC memory chip was proposed by Katsuhiro Onoda's NEC research team.^[282]

Telecommunication

See also: Communications in Japan

A stripped multi-mode optical fiber.

• Far infrared terahertz radiation (THz) — Junichi Nishizawa first proposed the concept in 1963 and demonstrated it in 1980.^[1]
• Optical communication (fiber-optic communication) — First proposed by Junichi Nishizawa in 1963.^[283]
  • Graded-index fiber (GI fiber) — Invented by Nishizawa in 1964.^[1]
  • Multi-mode optical fiber (MMF) — A type of optical fiber invented by Junichi Nishizawa in 1964.^[1]
• Proximity sensor — In February 1960, Omron developed the first contactless proximity switch.^[223]
• Semiconductor microwave communication — In 1963, NEC developed first solid-state semiconductor microwave communications line.^[219]
  • Digital microwave communication — Masasuke Morita's NEC and NTT team (c. 1963–1968) developed first commercial PCM microwave communications system.^[284]
• Transistor repeater — In 1963, NEC developed the first fully transistorized microwave repeaters, using silicon transistors for microwave amplification.^[209]
• Wireless navigation system — In 1961, Hidetsugu Yagi designed the first wireless navigation system for military use.^[285]

Timekeeping

See also: Japanese clock

2A Seiko quartz watch using the chronograph function (movement 7T92).

• Digital stopwatch — Seiko's Stop Clock (1963), used at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was the first digital stopwatch.^[286]
  • LCD digital watch — In 1969, Yoshio Yamasaki at Suwa Seikosha (Seiko Epson) began developing a digital watch with LCD display.^[220]
• Portable quartz clock — Seiko's Crystal Chronometer (1963), used at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was the first portable quartz clock.^[287]
• Quartz watch (quartz revolution) — Seiko's Astron (wristwatch), developed from 1958 to 1967 and released 1969, was the first quartz wristwatch. Sparked the quartz revolution.^[288]
  • CMOS wristwatch — Suwa Seikosha began developing a CMOS IC chip for a Seiko quartz watch in 1969. It was revealed as the Seiko Analog Quartz 38SQW in 1970.^[289]
• Self-winding chronograph — In early 1969, Seiko produced the first commercial self-winding chronograph with a vertical clutch system and column wheel.^[288]
• Titanium diving watch (water resistant watch) — The Professional Diver's 600m, developed by Seiko from 1968 to 1975, was the first diver's watch with titanium case.^[288]

Transportation

See also: Transport in Japan

A lineup of JR East Shinkansen bullet trains in October 2012

• Automated fare collection (automatic ticket gate) — Between 1964 and 1967, Omron developed the first unmanned train station with automatic ticket gate.^[223]
• Automatic train control (ATC) — Developed by Japanese National Railways (JNR) between 1962 and 1966.^[290]
• Bullet train (high-speed rail) — The first commercial high-speed train was Tōkaidō Shinkansen, which began construction in 1959 and opened in 1964.^[291]
• LPG carrier — NYK's Bridgestone Maru (1962) was the first liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier ship.^[292]
• Solar-powered buoy — In May 1963, solar modules by Sharp were first commercially used for a marine application, a solar-powered lighted buoy at Yokohama Port.^[176]

1970s

See also: 1970s in Japan

Arts

Light novel bookstore in Macau.

• Bishōjo
• Capsule hotel — Designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa. Introduced in 1970 at Expo '70, it was commercialized in 1976 with the Capsule Inn Osaka at Umeda.^[9]
• Cooking comic — Cooking manga genre emerged in 1970 with Totsugeki Ramen, Cake Cake Cake and Kitchen Kenpo.^[293]
• Fatality — Fatality finishing moves first appeared in The Street Fighter (1974), a Japanese martial arts film starring Sonny Chiba.^[294]
• IMAX film — Tiger Child (1970), the first IMAX film production, was produced by Asuka Productions. It premiered at Expo '70 in the Fuji Group Pavilion.^[295]
• Light novel — The genre began during the 1970s in Japan.^[296]
• Lolita fashion — In the late 1970s, a new movement known as Otome (乙女) was founded, which inspired Lolita fashion.^[297]
• Moe (slang)
• Real robot — Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) introduced the real robot concept. Gundam and The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982) formed the basis of real robot anime.^[298]
• Steampunk animation — The earliest steampunk anime were Leiji Matsumoto's Space Battleship Yamato (1974) and Hayao Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan (1978).^[132]
  • Hadouken — Street Fighter creator Takashi Nishiyama credits the Hadouho ("Wave Motion Gun") from Space Battleship Yamato (1974) as the origin of the Hadouken.^[299]
  • Clock tower fight scene — An inventive set piece from Hayao Miyazaki's Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) that was influential in Hollywood cinema.^[300]
• Uncanny valley — Masahiro Mori first introduced the concept in his 1970 essay The Uncanny Valley Phenomenon.^[301]
• Video game comic — The earliest comic book based on video games was the manga Game Center Arashi (1978).^[302]

Audio

Sony Walkman TPS‑L2 (1979), the first personal stereo.

• 8-channel digital audio — The Denon DN-023R (1972) digital audio recorder supported 8-channel digital audio.^[303]
  • PCM adaptor — The Sony PCM-1 (1976) was the first pulse-code modulation (PCM) adaptor and the first digital audio player and recorder for consumer use.^[163]
  • Digital audio optical disc — In 1976, Sony first demonstrated a prototype optical disc recording PCM digital audio.^[163]
  • Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) — Demonstrated by Sony in 1978 with stereo 16-bit audio, 44.1 kHz sample rate and cross-interleaved error correction code.^[163]
• Digital multi-track recording — The Denon DN-023R (1972) was the first digital multitrack recorder, supporting eight PCM audio channels.^[194]
  • Digital audio mastering — The Denon DN-023R (1972) was the first PCM digital recorder for audio mastering.^[303]
  • Digital audio 24-track recording — Oki Electric developed the first 24-channel PCM digital recording equipment, sold to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in 1973.^[304]
• Digital Peak Meter — The Sony TC-K8 (1978) cassette recorder introduced the TN-1978 Audio Peak Level Meter, the first digital peak meter with liquid-crystal display (LCD).^[305]
• Discrete quadraphonic sound — In September 1970, JVC introduced Compatible Discrete 4 (CD-4), the first discrete quadraphonic sound system for LP records.^[303]
  • Car stereo component speakers — In 1975, Pioneer released the first component car stereo system.^[197]
• FET audio power amplifier (power amp) — In 1974, Junichi Nishizawa introduced a power MOSFET used as an audio power amp.^[306]
• High-resolution audio — The Denon DN-023R (1972) digital audio recorder introduced a high-resolution 47.25 kHz sample rate.^[194]
  • 44,100 Hz (44.1 kHz) — Sony's PCM-1600 (1978) PCM adaptor introduced the CD quality standard of 16-bit audio and 44.1 kHz sample rate.^[307]
• Line spectral pairs (LSP) — Developed by Fumitada Itakura in 1975.^[199]
• Personal stereo (Walkman) — The first personal stereo was the Sony Walkman (1979), created by Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka and Kozo Ohsone.^[308]

Instruments

Yamaha DX7 (1983), an early digital synthesizer that was widely used during the 1980s–1990s.

• Digital synthesizer (FM synthesizer) — In 1974, Yamaha Corporation developed the first prototype digital synthesizer with frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis).^[309]
• Guitar synthesizer — The Roland GR-500 (1977), manufactured by Roland and FujiGen, was the first guitar synthesizer.^[310]
  • Keytar — The earliest commercial keytar was Japanese company Hillwood's RockeyBoard RB-1 (1977), a synth piano with voltage-controlled filter (VCF).^[311]
• Handheld electronic tuner — Korg's WT10 (1975) was the first battery-powered handheld electronic tuner. It was used by guitarists and bass players.^[312]
  • Chorus pedal — The Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, released by Boss Corporation in 1976, was the first chorus pedal.^[313]
  • Overdrive pedal — The Boss OD-1 Overdrive (1977) was the first overdrive pedal.^[314]
• Microprocessor drum machine — In 1978, the Roland CR-78 and CR-68 were the first microprocessor‑based programmable rhythm machines.^[310]
• Microprocessor music sequencer — The Roland MC-8 Microcomposer (1977) was the first microprocessor‑based music sequencer.^[195]
  • Polyphonic digital sequencer — The Roland MC-8 Microcomposer (1977) was the earliest polyphonic digital sequencer.^[195]
  • CV/gate — Introduced with the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer (1977).^[315]
• Music Macro Language (MML) — The first commands for classical MML appeared on the Sharp MZ-80K (1978) computer.^[316]
• Polyphonic synthesizer with digital keyboard scanning — Yamaha GX-1 (1973) polyphonic synthesizer featured voice allocation and digital keyboard scanning.^[309]
  • Polyphonic string synthesizer — The Roland RS-101 (1975) was the earliest polyphonic string synthesizer.^[317]
• Sound chip (PCM) — The earliest was Sony's PCM-1, a PCM processor introduced in 1976.^[163]
  • DPCM sound chip (DPCM) — The earliest was Oki Electric Industry's MSM5205, an adaptive differential PCM (ADPCM) speech synthesis chip released in 1979.^[318]
• Sound module — The Roland SPV355 Pitch‑to‑Voltage Synthesizer (1979) was the earliest rack-mounted sound module.^[319]
• Touch-sensitive electronic keyboard — The Roland EP-30 (1974) electronic piano featured the first touch-sensitive keyboard.^[310]

Music

Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) in 1981: Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi.

• Chillwave — According to Mojo magazine, Haruomi Hosono's album Paraiso (1978) was "prescient of late-noughties chillwave".^[320]
• Dab (dance) — Known as "henshin" or "sentai move" in Japan, it originates from the tokusatsu show Kamen Rider (1971).^[321]
• Electro music — Pioneered by Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), with tracks such as YMO's "Computer Game / Firecracker" (1978) and Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" (1980).^[322]
• Electro-pop — Pioneered by YMO in the late 1970s, before it became popular in 1980s music.^[323]
  • Synth-pop — Pioneered by YMO in the late 1970s, before it became popular in the 1980s.^[322]
  • Gated reverb — YMO's "Behind the Mask" (1979) was the first song to use gated reverb on the snare drums, a technique that later became popular in 1980s pop music.^[324]
• Grime music — The origins of grime music has been traced back to Ryuichi Sakamoto's music, notably the tracks "Grasshopper" and "End of Asia" from his album Thousand Knives (1978) and the single "Bamboo Houses" (1982).^[325]
  • Sinogrime — The origins of Sinogrime has been traced back to Sakamoto's "The End of Asia" from Thousand Knives (1978) and "Bamboo Houses" (1982).^[325]
• Orchestral digital recording — The first digitally recorded classical music album was recorded in Tokyo (April 1972) and released by Nippon Columbia.^[194]
• Quadraphonic LP record — In June 1971, JVC released Wonderful CD-4 Sound in Japan. It was the first quadraphonic LP record produced using the Compatible Discrete 4 (CD-4) quadraphonic sound system.^[303]
• Royal road progression — The earliest example of the contemporary royal road chord progression occurs in Yumi Arai's "Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta Nara" (1974), closely followed by Arai's "Sotsugyou Shashin" (1975) released by Hi-Fi Set.^[326]
• Space music — Pioneered by Isao Tomita in the early 1970s.^[201]
• Takenoko-zoku
• Techno — Pioneered by YMO during the late 1970s to early 1980s. They coined the "techno" genre label, with releases such as "Technopolis" (1979), Technodelic (1981) and "The Spirit of Techno" (1983).^[327]
• Techno-pop — Pioneered by YMO in the late 1970s.^[327]

Coin-operated games

See also: Video games in Japan and Arcade video game

Sega's arcade electro-mechanical game Jet Rocket (1970), the earliest first-person shooter flight simulator.

Mogura Taiji (Whac‑A‑Mole), invented by TOGO in 1975.

• 4D effect — Taito's arcade electro-mechanical game (EM game) Cycle Rider (1970) was the first game with a 4D effect in the form of wind blowing at the player.^[328]

• Car combat — Concept of ramming cars dates back to Sega's EM arcade games Stunt Car (1970) and Dodgem Crazy (1972).^[329]
• Force feedback — Sega's arcade motorbike game Man T.T. (1976), also known as Fonz, was the first game using haptic technology for vibrating collisions.^[330]

• Formula One game — Namco's EM arcade racing games Formula-X (1973) and F-1 (1976) were the first Formula One electronic games.^[331]
• Game music tape loops — Sega introduced tape music loops to arcades with EM games such as Sand Buggy (1972).^[332]
• Holographic 3D game — Sega's arcade electro-mechanical game Monte Carlo (1971) was the first game to display holographic animations.^[333]
• Interactive movie game (cinematic game) — Nintendo's Wild Gunman (1974) was the first interactive movie game.^[334]
• Light gun toy — Nintendo's Kōsenjū SP (Beam Gun) in 1970 was the first light gun toy for homes. It was developed by Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi and Sharp's Masayuki Uemura.^[335]
• Medal game — Medal games began in Japan during the early 1970s.^[336]
• Rhythm game — In the early 1970s, Kasco created a rhythm-based EM arcade game, designed by Kenzou Furukawa, inspired by Oh Mouretsu (1969) commercials.^[337]
• Whac-A-Mole — Kazuo Yamada of TOGO created Mogura Taiji, the first whac-a-mole style machine, released in 1975.^[338]

Computing

See also: Supercomputing in Japan

Sord M223 Mark III, an early home computer released by Sord Computer Corporation in the late 1970s.

• 16-bit microcomputer — The Panafacom L-16A (1976) was the earliest 16-bit microcomputer, based on the 16-bit Panafacom MN1610 (1975) microprocessor.^[339]
• 3D computer graphics software — Earliest was 3D Art Graphics, a set of 3D computer graphics effects written by Kazumasa Mitazawa and released for the Apple II in 1978.^[340]
• 3D computer vision — Takeo Kanade pioneered the field of three-dimensional computer vision in the 1970s.^[341]
  • Facial recognition system — In 1970, Takeo Kanade publicly demonstrated a face‑matching system.^[342]
• Competitive learning — A form of unsupervised learning developed by Kunihiko Fukushima with the neocognitron in 1979.^[343]
  • Unsupervised learning — Pioneered by Kunihiko Fukushima with the neocognitron in 1979.^[343]
• Color display tube (CDT) — CDT is a computer color CRT display technology. In 1972, Matsushita introduced a high-resolution CDT monitor.^[83]
  • CRT controller (CRTC) — Hitachi's HD46505 (HD6845) LSI video display controller (VDC) chip, released in 1977, was the first CRTC.^[206]
• Home computer with disk drive — The Sord M200 Smart Home Computer (1977) was the earliest home desktop computer with a floppy disk drive.^[169]
  • Personal computer with hard disk drive — The Sord M223 Mark VI came with a built-in hard disk drive (HDD) in 1979.^[169]
• Image processor — In 1970, Hitachi researchers developed an image processor for machine vision.^[214]
• Recurrent neural network (RNN) — In 1972, Shun'ichi Amari and Kaoru Nakano published the first papers on deep learning RNN networks.^[211]
  • Amari–Hopfield network — The Amari network (later known as Hopfield network), the earliest deep learning RNN, was first published by Shun'ichi Amari in 1972.^[211]
• Tile-based graphics — The tile-map model was introduced by Namco's arcade game Galaxian (1979), which ran on the Namco Galaxian arcade system board.^[344]
• Touch tablet word processor — Appeared in 1970s Japan. In 1979, Sharp's Shoin WD‑3000 featured touch tablet input with a touch pen.^[345]

Calculators

Casio JS-20WK pocket calculator with 7 segment LCD display.

• Battery-powered handheld calculator — Introduced in 1970 with Sharp's QT-8B Micro Compet and EL-8, the Sanyo ICC-82D, and Casio Pocketronic.^[346]
• LED calculator — In 1971, Busicom's LE-120A (Handy-LE) and LE-120S (Handy) were the first calculators to use LED displays.^[346]
• Microprocessor calculator — Busicom's 141-PF (1971) calculator was the first commercial product to use a microprocessor.^[206]
  • CMOS calculator — Between 1971 and 1972, Sharp and Toshiba co-developed the Sharp Elsi Mini, the first calculator using a CMOS LSI chip.^[206]

• Pocket calculator — In 1971, Busicom's LE-120A (Handy-LE), Handy LC and LE-120S (Handy) were the first truly pocket-sized electronic calculators.^[346]
  • Credit card size calculator — The Casio Mini Card LC-78 (1978) was the first credit card sized calculator.^[346]
• Soroban electronic calculator — In the 1970s, Suntory released a device combining a soroban abacus with an electronic calculator.^[346]
• Touchpad calculator — In 1975, Sharp released the lsimate EL-8130 Arithmetic Calculator, the first touch key calculator. Instead of a push-button keypad, it had a flat touch key interface using membrane keypad (like a touchpad or touchscreen).^[347]

Culture

Airsoft players defending an objective.

• Airsoft — Airsoft originated in Japan, then spread to Hong Kong and China in the late 1970s.^[348]
  • Airsoft gun — The inventor of the first airsoft gun was Tanio Kobayashi in the 1970s.^[349]

Nissan Silvia (S14) performing a drift (2014).

• Drifting — Kunimitsu Takahashi created drifting techniques in the 1970s.^[350]
• Direct injection expanded foam molding — The Injector series (1972) by Onitsuka Tiger were the first shoes produced using the direct Injection method.^[181]
  • Numerical control straight stitch sewing machine — Introduced by Brother Industries in 1974.^[351]
  • Computerized sewing machine — Brother's ZZ3-B820 Opus 8 (1979) was the first computerized sewing machine.^[351]
• Fudepen (brush pen) — Invented by Sailor (pen company) and introduced in 1972.^[352]
  • Blister pack — Introduced as a form of stationery packaging with Kuretake's fudepen in 1973.^[353]
• Online ATM — Oki invented an online cash dispenser, which was adopted by Fuji Bank in 1970.^[304]
• Rubber grip ballpoint pen — In 1978, Ohto introduced the first ballpoint pen with rubber grip.^[119]
• Shoot wrestling — Hybrid wrestling style pioneered in the 1970s Japanese puroresu circuit by wrestlers such as Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami.^[354]
  • Shootfighting
  • Soccer kick — A high-profile early user of soccer kicks as a finishing move was Antonio Inoki. In a 1977 puroresu match, he used it to knock out Great Antonio.^[355]
  • Strong style
• Smart card (IC card) — Kunitaka Arimura of the Arimura Technology Institute developed the idea of an IC card, and filed a smart card patent in March 1970.^[356]

Display technology

Color LCD information board at Tohoku Shinkansen train station in Tokyo.

• Color liquid-crystal display (color LCD) — In early 1975, Fumihiro Ogawa of NEC invented a multi-color liquid-crystal display (LCD).^[357]
• Digital HD (megapixel) — In 1973, Matsushita developed a 22" color CRT computer monitor with digital HD resolution of 2 megapixels and 1,125 scanlines.^[358]
• Flat-panel video display (FPD) — In 1974, Sharp demonstrated the first flat-panel display (FPD) showing video images, using thin-film electroluminescence (TFEL) technology.^[359]
• Grayscale plasma display — Developed by Mitsubishi and Hitachi in 1972.^[360]
  • Color plasma display — The first full-color plasma display prototype was demonstrated by NHK in 1978.^[83]
• Holographic 3D display — In 1970, a prototype holographic projection 3D display was developed by Takanori Okoshi of Tokyo University and A. Yano of Canon.^[361]
  • Computer-generated holography with spatial light modulator (SLM) — First proposed in 1976 by Keio University and Electrotechnical Laboratory.^[362]
• Holographic video — In 1973, Hitachi researchers Yoshito Tsunoda and Yasutsugu Takeda developed a video recording media storing video frame images as holograms.^[363]
  • Holographic video disc — In 1975, a Hitachi research team demonstrated a video disc system with audio-visual information encoded holographically.^[364]|
• Multi-function display watch (digital calendar) — The Casiotron QW02-10 (1974) was the first digital watch with an automatic calendar (auto-calendar) function.^[365]
  • Digital chronograph — The Seiko LC Chronograph (1975) was the first digital chronograph.^[286]
  • Spring Drive — A watch movement which was first conceived by Yoshikazu Akahane working for Seiko in 1977 and was patented in 1982. It features a true continuously sweeping second hand, rather than the traditional beats per time unit.^[255]
• Slot mask — A variant of shadow mask CRT display technology developed by Toshiba in 1971.^[83]
  • Deflection yoke — In 1971, JVC introduced deflection yokes for CRT displays.^[154]
• VFD color display — In 1979, Japanese company Kasei Optonics developed a multi-color VFD.^[83]

Television

See also: Television in Japan

Panasonic TX-P55ST60E (2013) 55" plasma TV.

• Active shutter 3D system (3D TV) — In the late 1970s, Matsushita developed a stereoscopic 3D TV using active shutter 3D system, commercialized in 1981.^[366]
• Color HDTV (component video) — Panasonic and NHK circa 1970–1973 developed a HDTV system with color analog component video, demonstrated in 1973.^[207]
  • Interlaced HD video — NHK circa 1970–1975 developed a Saticon video camera and CRT displays with interlaced resolutions from 935i to 2125i scanlines.^[207]
  • HD video progressive scan — NHK circa 1974–1975 developed a Saticon video camera and CRT displays with progressive scan resolutions from 610p to 1195p.^[207]
• Digital HDTV (1080i) — In 1975, Matsushita developed a prototype 30" CRT HDTV with 1510×1080 resolution.^[83]
  • HD video coding — Multiple Sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding (MUSE), developed by NHK circa 1979–1982, was the first HDTV digital video compression standard.^[207]
• Flat-screen TV (EL display) — In 1974, Sharp demonstrated the first flat‑panel TV using thin-film electroluminescence (TFEL) technology.^[83]
  • Plasma TV — The first prototype color plasma TV was demonstrated by NHK in 1978.^[360]
• Handheld television (pocket TV) — Panasonic IC TV Model TR-001 (1970) was the first TV small enough to fit in a large pocket, with 1.5-inch display and 1.5-inch speaker.^[367]
  • Portable color TV — In 1979, Sony released the first portable color TV.^[368]
• High frame rate (500 Hz) — NHK circa 1974–1975 developed prototype HD CRT displays with frame rates higher than the 60 Hz NTSC standard, reaching up to 500 Hz frame rate.^[207]
• LCD TV — The first LCD TVs were invented as handheld TV sets in Japan. The first LCD TV prototypes were demonstrated by Hitachi in 1977 and Matsushita in 1978.^[220]
• On-screen display (OSD) — In 1972, Sharp introduced the first TV set to display a TV channel number in the corner as well as an optional digital clock on screen.^[369]
  • Interactive TV — Between 1975 and 1977, Pioneer Electronics developed Qube, the first two-way addressable, interactive cable TV system.^[370]
  • Picture-in-picture (PIP) — In 1978, Sharp's CT-1804X was the first TV that could display two programs at once on the same screen.^[176]
• Surface acoustic wave TV receiver — In 1977, Toshiba produced the first surface acoustic wave (SAW) device for TV receivers.^[85]
• Widescreen television (5:3) — Between 1970 and 1975, NHK developed widescreen TV displays for their Hi-Vision analog HDTV system. They experimented with different aspect ratios from 1:1 to 9:1 before settling on 5:3.^[207]

Video

Betamax (top) and VHS (bottom) tapes were respectively created by Japanese companies Sony and JVC.

• Betamax — An analog magnetic tape videocassette developed by Sony between 1973 and 1975. Betamax was commercially launched in early 1975.^[163]
  • Video Home System (VHS) — VHS cassette format was developed by Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano at JVC between 1973 and 1975. VHS was launched in 1975.^[200]
• Digital color video — In 1972, Toshiba's TOSBAC computer was using a digital video disk to store color digital images.^[371]
• Laserdisc player (LD player) — Pioneer released the first laserdisc (LD) player for business use in February 1979 and for home use in June 1980.^[372]
• Compact Video Cassette (CVC) — Released by Canon in early 1981.^[278]
• Videocassette player — The Sony VP‑1100 (1971) was the first videocassette player.^[198]
  • Videocassette recorder (VCR) — The Sanyo VTC-710 (1971) was the first portable videocassette recorder.^[373]
  • Combo television unit (TV/VCR combo) — The Sony LV-1901D (1975) was a combo console unit integrating a Trinitron TV and Betamax VCR.^[374]
• Video floppy — In 1977, Canon developed the first prototype video floppy disk. In 1981, Sony introduced the Video Floppy format as Mavipak in 1981 for Mavica camera.^[375]

Microtechnology

Stereolithography (SLA) 3D printed model of a circuit board.

• 3D microfabrication — Developed by Hideo Kodama in the 1970s, originally for 3D printing.^[376]
  • Stereolithography (SLA) — Invented by Hideo Kodama for 3D printing in the 1970s.^[376]
• Continuous wave semiconductor laser — Invented by Izuo Hayashi (1970). It's commonly used for fiber-optics, laser printers, barcode readers and optical discs.^[377]
• Dry etching (plasma etching) — In 1973, Mitsubishi introduced the use of dry etching using plasma chemistry for semiconductor device fabrication.^[200]
• Green light-emitting diode (green LED) — Developed by Junichi Nishizawa in 1971.^[378]
• High-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) — Invented by T. Mimura's team at Fujitsu between 1978 and 1979.^[206]
• Laser mask aligner — Canon's PLA-500FA (1978) was the first mask aligner with laser-based automatic alignment.^[216]
• Laterally-diffused MOSFET (LDMOS) — Introduced by Hitachi in 1977. They first manufactured LDMOS for audio power amplifiers and PA systems.^[306]
• Microlithography — Canon's FPA-141F (1975) was the first photolithography system to achieve an optical resolution more precise than 1 square micrometre.^[69]

A "sliced and unrolled" representation of a carbon nanotube as a strip of a graphene molecule.

• Nanotechnology — The field of nanotechnology was named and defined by Norio Taniguchi in 1974.^[379]
  • Carbon nanofiber (CNF) — Discovered by Morinobu Endo in the early 1970s.^[380]
  • Carbon nanotube (CNT) — Discovered by Morinobu Endo in 1976.^[381]
• Raman semiconductor laser — Junichi Nishizawa proposed the concept in 1972. In 1979, he demonstrated the first Raman semiconductor laser.^[1]
  • Raman fiber laser — The first continuous wave Raman laser using an optical fiber as the gain medium was co-developed by B.S. Kawasaki and demonstrated in 1976.^[382]
• Silicon carbide fiber (SiC fiber) — Invented by Professor Seiji Yajima at Tohoku University in the mid-1970s.^[383]
• Static induction thyristor (SITh) — Developed by Junichi Nishizawa between 1973 and 1975.^[200]
• Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) — Short optical cavity VCSEL was proposed by Kenichi Iga in 1977 and demonstrated by Yasuharu Suematsu in 1979.^[384]

Integrated circuits

Panafacom MN1610 (1975), the first single-chip 16-bit microprocessor.

Intel 8259A, an early programmable interrupt controller (PIC) designed by Masatoshi Shima.

• 12-bit microprocessor — The Toshiba TLCS-12 (1973) was the first 12-bit microprocessor.^[206]
  • Microprocessor microcode — The Toshiba TLCS-12 (1973) introduced the first microprocessor architecture with microprogram control.^[206]
• 16-bit central processing unit (CPU) — In 1972, Sanyo developed the first prototype multi‑chip 16‑bit CPU.^[278]
  • 16-bit microprocessor — The Panafacom MN1610 (1975) was the first single‑chip 16‑bit microprocessor.^[385]

• CMOS large-scale integration (CMOS LSI) — Toshiba used C²MOS technology to develop a CMOS LSI chip for the Sharp Elsi Mini LED pocket calculator in 1971.^[206]
  • Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) — In 1972, NTT introduced a 64 kbit VLSI memory chip.^[386]
  • Hi-CMOS (twin-well CMOS) — In 1978, Toshiaki Masuhara's Hitachi team introduced the twin-well Hi‑CMOS process with the HM6147 memory chip.^[206]

• Direct memory access controller (DMA controller) — In the late 1970s, Hitachi developed a DMA microcontroller on a single LSI chip.^[206]
  • Floppy-disk controller integrated circuit (FDC IC) — In the late 1970s, Hitachi introduced a floppy disk microcontroller on a single LSI chip.^[206]
  • Magnetic-tape data storage microcontroller — Developed by Hitachi in the late 1970s.^[206]
• Microcontroller unit (MCU) — Introduced in Japan for automobiles during the early 1970s, including 4-bit and 8-bit MCUs for wipers, entertainment, locks and dashboard.^[206]
• Microprocessor — The first single-chip microprocessor, Intel 4004 (1971), was co-designed by Masatoshi Shima with American engineers Marcian Hoff, Federico Faggin and Stanley Mazor.^[387]

• Microscale transistor — In 1979, a metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET) 1 μm process was demonstrated by NTT for their 64 kb DRAM memory chip.^[388]
• NMOS logic microprocessor — NEC's 4-bit μCOM-4 (1973) was the earliest NMOS microprocessor, developed by Sohichi Suzuki's NEC research team.^[389]

• Programmable interval timer (PIT) — Dates back to the Intel 8253 (1975) IC chip designed by Masatoshi Shima.^[390]
  • Programmable interrupt controller (PIC) — The first PIC was the Intel 8259 (1976) chip designed by Masatoshi Shima.^[390]
• Universal synchronous and asynchronous receiver-transmitter (USART) — Dates back to the Intel 8251 (1976) chip designed by Masatoshi Shima.^[390]

Memory

Toshiba DT01ABA100V, a hard disk drive (HDD) with 1 terabyte (TB) data storage capacity.

• 3D optical data storage (holographic data storage) — In 1971, Yasutsugu Takeda's Hitachi research team developed holographic memory data storage.^[391]
• Compact disc (CD) — Sony (Toshitada Doi) demonstrated a prototype digital optical disc in 1976 and a prototype CD with cross-interleaved error correction code in 1978.^[163]
• Gigabyte hard disk drive (GB HDD) — The NEC N7755 (1979) was the first hard disk drive (HDD) exceeding 1 gigabyte (GB) data storage, with 1.27 GB mass storage.^[169]
  • Perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) — In 1975, Shun-ichi Iwasaki invented PMR. In 2005, Toshiba released the first commercial PMR HDD.^[392]
• Multi-level cell (MLC) — 3D integrated circuit (3D IC) DRAM chips with MLC cells were developed in Japan, with stacked capacitor (1978) and trench capacitor (1982) cells.^[206]
  • Triple-level cell (TLC) — In 1978, Mitsumasa Koyanagi's Hitachi team demonstrated the first MOS memory RAM chip with TLC stacked capacitor memory cells.^[393]
• Non-volatile memory (NVM) — In 1970, Shunpei Yamazaki invented a floating-gate NVM semiconductor memory device, a precursor to flash memory.^[394]
  • EEPROM — Electrotechnical Laboratory began research in 1971 and demonstrated an electrically re‑programmable NVM in 1972.^[395]
• Optical disc drive (ODD) — Toshiba's Tosfile, developed from 1978 to 1979, was the first optical disc recorder drive. It was capable of storing digital images and documents on optical disc.^[85]

Sciences

A downburst.

• Anisotropic permanent magnet — Invented by Matsushita in 1977, after adapting their 1967 isotropic magnet into an anisotropic magnet.^[200]
• Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa matrix — Discovered by Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa in 1973, it introduced three generations of quarks.^[107]
• Fujita scale — The first scale designed to measure tornado intensity, it was introduced by Ted Fujita in 1971. The scale was widely adopted until the Enhanced Fujita scale.^[396]
  • Downburst — Downbursts, strong ground-level wind systems that emanate from a point above and blow radially, were discovered by Ted Fujita in 1974.^[397]
  • Macroburst — Ted Fujita discovered macrobursts in 1974 and classified them as downbursts larger than 4 km (2.5 mi).^[397]
  • Microburst — First discovered and identified as a small scale downburst affecting an area 4 km (2.5 mi) in diameter or less by Fujita in 1974.^[397]
• Fuzzy measure theory — Building on Lotfi A. Zadeh's fuzzy logic, M. Sugeno introduced the concept of fuzzy measures in 1972.^[398]
  • Sugeno integral — Introduced by M. Sugeno in 1974.
• Kenmotsu manifold — Discovered by Katsuei Kenmotsu in 1972.^[399]
• Kuramoto model — Developed by Yoshiki Kuramoto.^[245]
  • Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation — Developed by Yoshiki Kuramoto.^[245]
  • Non-linear synchronization — Yoshiki Kuramoto pioneered the non-linear model of the synchronization phenomenon.^[245]
• Polyisoprene synthetic rubber — Developed by Kuraray in 1972.^[130]
• Quantum Hall effect — First predicted by Tsuneya Ando's Tokyo University team in 1975.^[400]
• Statin — The statin class of drugs was first discovered by Akira Endo (biochemist) while working for pharmaceutical company Sankyo between 1972 and 1973.^[401]
  • Mevastatin (compactin) — The first discovered member of the statin class. It was discovered by Akira Endo in 1973.^[401]
  • Lovastatin — Discovered by Endo between 1978 and 1979.^[401]
• Superabsorbent polymer (SAP) — First commercialized by Sanyo Chemical in 1978.^[237]

Biomedical science

Cup Noodles by Nissin Foods.

• 3D holographic X-ray microscope — In 1975, Tokyo University researchers Sadao Aoki and Seishi Kikuta invented a 3D medical imaging holographic X-ray microscope.^[402]
• Antiparasitic drugs — Discovered by Satoshi Ōmura in 1978, including avermectin, endectocide and ivermectin. He won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[245]
• Atomic force microscopy — In 1976, the first micrograph of atomic arrangements was taken with JEOL Electron Microscope.^[240]
  • High-resolution field-emission microscope — In 1978, Hitachi developed the first field emission electron microscope with high image resolution.^[403]
• Cross-coupling reaction — Discovered by Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki in the 1970s, for which they were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.^[107]
• Cup noodle — Momofuku Ando invented the first cup noodle, Nissin Cup Noodles, introduced by Nissin Foods in 1971.^[9]
• Dementia with Lewy bodies — First described in 1976 by psychiatrist Kenji Kosaka. He was awarded the Asahi Prize in 2013 for his discovery.^[245]
• ECG monitor — In 1976, JVC introduced the first electrocardiogram (ECG) medical monitor.^[154]
• Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) — This surgical procedure was developed in Japan by M. Tada, M. Murata and F. Murakami between 1974 and 1984.^[404]
• High-resolution ultrasound machine — Developed by Toshiba between 1971 and 1975.^[85]
  • Ultrasound vector monitor — In 1975, JVC introduced the first 8-inch X-Y monitor for ultrasound.^[154]
• Non-mydriatic retinal camera — The first non-mydriatic retinal camera was the Canon CR-45NM (1976).^[216]
• Pulse oximetry (pulse oximeter) — Developed in 1972 by Takuo Aoyagi and Michio Kishi, bioengineers at Nihon Kohden. The surgeon Susumu Nakajima and his associates first tested the device on patients, reported in 1975.^[152]
• V(D)J recombination — Discovered by Susumu Tonegawa in 1976, for which he was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[107]

Technology

A 3D printer.

• 3D printing — Invented by Hideo Kodama in the 1970s. In 1980, he invented two additive methods for fabricating 3D plastic models with photo-hardening thermoset polymer.^[376]
• Brushless motor generator (BLMG) — Developed by Toyo Denki in 1972.^[229]
• Compact fluorescent bulb — Toshiba began development after the 1973 oil crisis and had a trial run in 1978, before commercializing it as the Neo Ball in 1980.^[85]
• Compact copier — The Fuji Xerox 2200 (1973) by Fujifilm was the first compact photocopier.^[405]
• Ductless multi-split AC — Multi-zone ductless AC systems were invented by Daikin in 1973. It was first sold in Japan.^[406]

A typical electronic bidet washlet in Japan.

• Heated toilet seat — The INAX Sanitarina F1 (1976) bidet toilet introduced a heated toilet seat.^[276]
  • Low-flush toilet — Toto's CS Series (1976) was the first water saving toilet with noise reduction.^[407]
  • Washlet — Between 1978 and 1980, Toto developed the first washlet, the Washlet G. It featured warm water spray, heated seat and dryer functions.^[407]
• Individual quick freezing (IQF) — A quick freezer for whipped cream was developed by Norio Owada of Abi in the 1970s.^[408]
• Intelligent assembly robot — In 1970, Hitachi researchers invented an intelligent assembly robot for factory automation. A computer with image processor was used for machine vision.^[214]
  • Multi-arm robot — In 1977, Nissan and Toshiba developed the first multi-arm robot. It performed the work of four conventional industrial robots, with simultaneous multi-spot welding capabilities.^[225]
• ISO 400 — Fujifilm's Fujicolor 400 (1976) was the first ISO 400 color print film.^[124]
• Laser printer — The earliest commercial laser desktop printer was developed by Canon in 1975. The Canon LBP-10 (1979) was a notable early desktop laser printer.^[216]
• LED phosphor — In 1973, S. Tabuchi proposed a light-emitting diode (LED) structure that combines LED with phosphors, later the basis for white LED.^[409]
• LED printer — Between 1977 and 1981, Oki developed the first LED page printer, released as the Oki OPP6100 in 1981.^[304]
• Minilab — The first minilab, the QSS-1 (Quick Service System 1), was introduced by Noritsu in 1976.^[155]
• Lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) — Discovered by Koichi Mizushima (scientist) and John Goodenough circa 1979–1980, later used for lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology.^[107]
• Model robot — Bandai began selling toy model robots in the 1970s.^[159]
• Quadrupedal robot — Invented by Shigeo Hirose in 1978.^[410]
  • Climbing robots — Invented by Shigeo Hirose in 1979.^[410]
• Self-holding reed switch — In 1971, Fujitsu introduced the first practical application of self‑holding reed switches.^[411]
• Sensor microwave oven — In 1979, Sharp introduced the first microwave oven incorporating sensor and microcomputer technologies.^[176]
• Snake robot — Invented by Shigeo Hirose in 1972.^[412]
  • Spider robot — Invented by Shigeo Hirose in 1976.^[412]
• Soft robotics — Shigeo Hirose invented the first soft robotic gripper in 1977.^[413]
• Solar-powered electronic game — Kōsenjū SP (1970), a light gun developed by Nintendo and Sharp, was the first electronic game device using solar cell technology.^[335]
  • Solar-powered calculator — The Sharp EL-8026 Sunman (1976) was the first solar‑powered electronic calculator, using solar cell technology.^[346]
  • Solar watch — Citizen Watch Crystron Solar Cell (1976) was the first quartz watch using solar cells. Citizen Watch Eco-Drive (1995) was the first Ecomark certified watch.^[414]
• Thermal printing fax — Oki developed the first thermal-type facsimile machine (fax), sold to Nihon Keizai Shimbun in 1973.^[304]
• Vector control (motor) — Yaskawa's Varispeed-626TV, developed in the 1970s and demonstrated in 1978, was the first vector control inverter drive.^[257]
• Water transfer printing (hydrographics) — Japanese company Taica invented cubic printing in 1974.^[415]

Cameras

Konica C35 AF (1977), the first point-and-shoot 35 mm camera.

• Aperture priority — The Asahi Pentax ES (1971) was the first SLR camera with aperture priority auto-exposure.^[167]
• Autofocus camera (AF camera) — The Konica C35 AF (1977) was the first camera with autofocus.^[166]
• Color digital camera (3CCD) — In 1977, a Sony research team led by M. Abe developed the first digital color CCD camera using three CCD image sensors.^[416]
  • Still video camera (SVC) — First prototype SVC to be developed was the Canon SV Camera (1977). First SVC to be demonstrated was the Sony Mavica (1981).^[375]
• Color single-tube video camera — Nippon Columbia's FIC Vidicon (1970), using a filter integrated color (FIC) Vidicon, was the first single-tube color video camera.^[417]
  • Solid-state electronic video camera — The Sanyo VC-100 (1971) was the first solid‑state electronic video camera.^[373]
  • Electronic viewfinder (EVF) — The Sanyo 3-VMI (1971) was the first 3" electronic viewfinder, with instant playback on the Sanyo VC‑100 and VC‑730 video cameras.^[373]
• Color video home movie camera — In 1973, Toshiba released the first color video camera for home use.^[85]
  • CCD sensor video camera — In 1978, Sony developed the first practical CCD video camera.^[418]
• Electronic memory — The Asahi Pentax Electro Spotmatic (ES), released in 1971, introduced the use of electronic memory in a camera.^[419]
  • Electronic camera integrated circuit — Nikon's Nikkormat EL (1972) was the first camera with a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) chip.^[165]
  • Electronic camera microprocessor — The Canon AE-1 (1976) was the first camera with a central processing unit (CPU) computer chip. The Canon A-1 (1978) introduced the first camera-based microprocessor system.^[124]
• High-speed camera — The Asahi Pentax ES (1971) introduced an electronic shutter with variable shutter speeds up to 1 millisecond.^[419]
• LED viewfinder — Fujifilm's Fujica ST 801 (1972) SLR camera introduced a viewfinder with digital LED display.^[124]
• Open-aperture metering — The Asahi Pentax Electro-Spotmatic (ES), released in 1971, was equipped with the first TTL open‑aperture metering.^[167]
• Pinned photodiode (PPD) — Developed by Sony, Toshiba and NEC between 1975 and 1980.^[206]
  • Hole accumulation diode (HAD) — Developed by Yoshiaki Hagiwara's team at Sony between 1975 and 1980.^[420]
• Point-and-shoot 35 mm camera — The Konica C35 AF (1977) and Canon AF35M Sure Shot (1979) were the first 35 mm point‑and-shoot electronic cameras.^[421]

Telecommunication

• Bit Error Rate Tester (BERT) — In 1977, Anritsu developed the first 2 Gigabit/s ultra high‑speed bit error rate detector.^[75]
• Caller ID — In 1976, Kazuo Hashimoto built the first prototype of a caller ID display device that could receive caller information.^[160]
• Color videophone — In 1970, Toshiba developed the first color videophone.^[85]
• Fiber-optic cable — In 1975, NEC and Tokyo Electric Power Company conducted the first comprehensive field test of a fiber‑optic cable system.^[209]
  • Optical Transmission System — In 1976, Hitachi successfully demonstrated the first optical transmission system.^[403]
  • Fiber-optic communications system — In 1977, NEC developed the first commercial fiber-optic communications system.^[209]
  • Multi-core fiber (MCF) — Invented by S. Inao of Furukawa Electric in 1979.^[422]
• Gigabit per second (Gbit/s) — In 1979, Takashi Kimura of NTT demonstrated 1 Gbit/s fibre-optic transmission over 20 km.^[423]
• Infrared remote control — Introduced with Matsushita's TH-6600FR (1972) color TV, able to switch on and off, change channels and adjust volume.^[94]
• Mobile network (1G) — In 1979, the first mobile cellular network was 1G, launched by NTT in Japan.^[424]
  • 800 MHz frequency band — Introduced in Japan with NTT's 1G network in 1979.^[425]
  • Commercial mobile phone — The Panasonic TZ‑801 (1979) was the first commercial cellular mobile phone, using NTT's 1G network.^[426]
  • Frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) — Introduced with NTT's 1G network in 1979.^[425]
• RC car wheel transmitter — Futaba Corporation's FP-T2F (1974) was the first RC transmitter to allow RC cars to be wirelessly controlled by a wheel controller.^[427]
• Wireless game console (wireless controller) — The earliest was the TV Tennis Electrotennis (1975) home console by Epoch Co. It connected to TV via ultra high frequency (UHF) antenna.^[428]

Transportation

Electronic stability control (ESC) control light

• Attitude direction indicator control display unit (ADI CDU) — In 1975, Matsushita developed a HIS ADI CDU system with CRT display for aircraft cockpit.^[83]
• Aurora space photography — In 1978, Hamamatsu Photonics developed a space-borne TV camera that captured the first aurora images from outer space.^[429]
• Automatic climate control — The first automatic automotive air conditioning systems were introduced by Toyota and Nissan in 1971.^[430]
• Automatic transmission rotary engine — The Mazda Capella (1970) introduced the Mazda 12A engine, the first rotary engine with automatic transmission.^[228]
• Automotive engine microcomputer — The earliest automobile microcomputer was Toshiba's Electronic Engine Control (EEC) in the early 1970s.^[85]
• Automotive navigation — MITI's CATC (Comprehensive Automobile Traffic Control) in 1973 and JSK (Electronic Technology for Automatic Traffic and Driving) in 1979.^[431]
• Combined braking system (CBS) — The first CBS was introduced with the Honda RCB1000 motorcycle in 1976.^[230]
  • Oval piston engine — A piston engine using oval cylinders, it was developed by Honda and introduced with the Honda NR500 motorcycle in 1979.^[231]
  • 8-valve engine — Introduced with Honda's oval piston engine for the Honda NR500 in 1979.^[231]
• Destination dispatch elevator control — In 1972, Hitachi introduced the first instant-reservation-type fully-automatic group control elevator.^[432]
  • Computer elevator control — In 1973, a Hitachi research team led by Tatsuo Iwaska proposed an elevator control system using digital circuits and computer.^[433]
• Electronic control unit (ECU) — In the early 1970s, the Japanese electronics industry began producing IC chips and microcontrollers for controlling vehicle engines.^[206]
  • Transmission control unit (TCU) — Transmission control was introduced by Toyota in 1970.^[430]
  • Electronically controlled anti-lock braking system (ABS) – ABS control was introduced by Toyota and Nissan in 1971.^[430]
  • Engine control unit (ECU) — Toshiba's Electronic Engine Control (EEC), using Toshiba TLCS-12, was developed from 1971 to 1973 and released in 1974.^[85]
• Electronic stability control (ESC) – The 1971 Toyota Crown introduced Electronic Skid Control (ESC).^[434]
• Fuel injection control — Introduced by Toyota and Nissan in 1971.^[430]
• Fibre-optic submarine communications cable (Trans Pacific Cable) — Co-developed by KDDI and began development in 1977.^[278]
  • Fibre-optic remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) — Co-designed by A. Nakagawa and demonstrated in 1978.^[435]
  • Computer-aided voice control — In 1979, A. Nakagawa at Naval Ocean Systems Center demonstrated computer-aided voice control with telemetry system.^[435]
• Fuzzy control system — Between 1978 and 1986, Hitachi engineers developed the first practical fuzzy logic control system for the Sendai Subway Namboku Line.^[398]
• Personal watercraft (PWC) — Kawasaki's Jet Ski (1973) was the first stand-up PWC. The Jet Ski was the first commercially successful and practical PWC.^[436]
• Satellite modem — In 1978, Fujitsu developed the first satellite communications burst modem.^[411]
  • Satellite HDTV — NHK used Yuri, a Japanese broadcasting satellite launched in 1978, to demonstrate HDTV satellite transmission in 1979.^[207]
• Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) — The first large-scale SCR was installed by IHI Corporation in 1978.^[437]
• Self-driving car (vehicular automation) — The first self-driving car was designed by Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Lab in 1977, using cameras and analog computer.^[438]
• Single channel per carrier (SCPC) — In 1973, Fujitsu developed the first SCPC satellite communications system.^[411]

1980s

See also: 1980s in Japan

Arts

Takeshi Kitano in 2000. He created Takeshi's Castle (1986) and starred in Battle Royale (2000).

• CGI animated feature film — Golgo 13: The Professional (1983) was the first animated feature film with computer-animated scenes.^[439]
  • Ray-traced reflections — The Japanese CGI short films Bio-Sensor (1984) and Nagisa no Peppy (1987) made early use of ray-tracing with reflections.^[440]
  • Motion capture — Bio-Sensor (1984) and Nagisa no Peppy (1987) made early use of rudimentary motion capture.^[440]
• Cyberpunk manga — The genre began with Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1982).^[441]
• Live-action video game film — Namco's Japanese film Mirai Ninja (1988) was the first live‑action video game film adaptation, based on the game Mirai Ninja.^[159]
• Moe anthropomorphism
• Multi-season story arc — Japanese anime series such as Dragon Ball (1986) introduced a TV serialization format where a continuous story arc stretches over many episodes.^[442]
• Original video animation (OVA) — Bandai Visual's Dallos (1983) was the first OVA series.^[159]
  • Cyberpunk animation — The Japanese cyberpunk OVA film Megazone 23 (1985) was the earliest animated cyberpunk work.^[443]
• Paris syndrome — Hiroaki Ota, a Japanese psychiatrist working at the Sainte-Anne Hospital Center in France, identified the syndrome in the 1980s.^[444]

• Physical challenge game show — Takeshi's Castle (1986) established a genre of TV game shows about physical challenges and painful entertainment.^[445]
• Replays — Created by Group SNE with Record of Lodoss War (1986).^[446]
• Selfie — The Minolta Disc-7 (1983) was the first camera designed for selfies, including a selfie mirror and a selfie stick attachment.^[447]
• Simulated reality — Megazone 23 (1985) tackled the concept of a simulated reality more than a decade before live-action films such as Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999) and Existenz (1999).^[443]
• Time loop feature film — The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1983), based on the 1969 novel of the same name, was the earliest feature film about a time loop, predating Groundhog Day (1993).^[448]
• Video game film — The first video game film adaptations were the 1986 anime films Super Mario Bros: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen and Running Boy: Star Soldier no Himitsu.^[449]
• Virtual idol — Originates from Macross franchise (1982). First virtual idol was Lynn Minmay from Macross.^[450]

Audio

Sony Discman D121, a portable CD player.

• 48,000 Hz (48 kHz) — Introduced by the Sony PCM-3324 (1982) multitrack recorder, which played and recorded 16-bit audio at 44.1 KHz and 48 kHz sample rates.^[451]
• Automatic dual-side record player — In 1981, Sharp Corporation released the first record player that automatically switches sides of a vinyl record.^[176]
• Compact disc player (CD player) — The Denon DN-3000F (1981) was the first commercial CD player.^[452]
  • Portable CD player — The Sony Discman (1984) was the first portable CD player.^[453]
• Digital mixing console — The Denon DN-050MD (1984) was the first digital mixing console for audio mastering.^[303]
• In-ear headphones — Sony's MDR-E252 (1982) were the first in-ear headphones.^[198]
• MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) — The MUSICAM (MP2) audio coding format was co-developed by Matsushita (Panasonic) in 1989.^[454]
  • Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) — The AAC patent holders include Japanese companies JVC Kenwood, NEC, NTT, Panasonic and Sony.^[455]
• Portable car stereo — The Sony Music Shuttle (1983) was the first car stereo that could be detached and used as a portable audio player.^[456]
• Random access digital editing — The Denon DN-036ED (1982) was the first random access PCM digital audio editing system.^[303]
• Vehicle audio steering wheel controls — In 1984, the Nissan 300ZX introduced car radio controls on the steering wheel.^[457]

Instruments

Roland TR-808 (1980), the first fully programmable drum machine. Widely used in modern music.

• Analog modeling synthesizer — The Roland D-50 (1987) was the first virtual analog synthesizer.^[195]
  • Linear arithmetic synthesis (LA synthesis) — A sample-based synthesis method introduced with the Roland D-50 (1987) synthesizer.^[458]
  • Sample-based synthesis with digital effects — Introduced by Roland D-50 (1987) with built-in digital effects such as delay, reverb and chorus.^[459]

• Bass synthesizer–sequencer — The Japanese instruments Firstman SQ-01 (1980) and Roland TB-303 (1981) were the first bass synthesizers with integrated sequencers.^[460]
  • Acid bass — Acid house music is characterized by the distinctive squelching basslines of Roland Corporation's TB-303 (1981) bass synthesizer.^[461]

• Chromatic tuner — The Boss TU-12 (1983) was the first automatic chromatic tuner.^[462]
  • Digital delay pedal — The Boss DD-2 (1983) was the first digital delay effects pedal.^[314]
  • Digital reverb pedal — The Boss RV-2 (1989) was the first digital reverb pedal.^[314]
• Digital piano — The Yamaha GS1 (1980) FM synthesizer was the earliest digital piano.^[463]
  • Phase distortion synthesis (PD) — Invented by Casio for its Casio CZ-101 digital synthesizer in 1984.^[464]
• FM synthesis sound chip — The Yamaha GS1 (1980) synthesizer featured the earliest FM synthesis chipset.^[465]
  • Sample-based synthesis sound chip — The earliest is the Roland LA32 (1987) chip, producing LA synthesis (a form of sample-based synthesis) in the D-50 synthesizer and MT-32 sound module.^[466]

• Fully programmable drum machine — The Roland TR-808 (1980) was the first drum machine capable of programming a whole percussion track with breaks and rolls.^[467]
  • DIN sync — Introduced with the Roland TR-808 (1980).^[468]
• MIDI — In 1981, Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi proposed a standardized means of synchronizing electronic music instruments. Roland, Yamaha, Korg and Kawai co-developed the MIDI standard between 1981 and 1983.^[195]
  • MIDI drum machine — In 1983, the first MIDI drum machine was the Roland TR-909.^[315]
  • MIDI keyboard — In 1983, the first MIDI-controlled electronic keyboards were the Roland Jupiter-6 and Prophet 600.^[315]
  • MIDI guitar — The Roland GR-700 (1984) was the first guitar synthesizer to support MIDI and memory functions.^[469]
  • MIDI wind controller — Pioneered in the 1980s by Akai with the EVI and EWI as well as Yamaha's WX7 controller.^[470]
• MIDI digital audio workstation (DAW) — Yamaha's MSX computers Yamaha Integrated System (YIS) and Yamaha CX5M, developed between 1981 and 1983, were the first MIDI-equipped music workstations.^[471]
• MIDI music sequencer — The Roland MSQ-700 (1983) was the first MIDI music sequencer.^[310]
  • Groovebox — The Roland CR-78 (1978), TR-808 (1980) and TR-606 (1981) were precursors to the groovebox. The Roland MC-202 (1983) is considered the first true groovebox.^[472]
• MIDI sound module — The Yamaha SFG-01 (1983) sound module for the MSX introduced FM synthesis and MIDI sequencing to computers.^[473]
  • MIDI sound card — Between 1982 and 1984, Roland developed the Roland MPU-401, the first MIDI-equipped sound card capable of MIDI sound processing and sequencing.^[474]
  • Digital piano sound module — Dates back to Roland MKS-20 (1986) MIDI module, using Roland's structured adaptive synthesis (SAS) for more realistic piano sounds.^[195]
  • Multi-timbral sound module — The Roland MT-32 (1987) was the first MIDI sound module using LA synthesis, a form of multi-timbral sample-based synthesis. It was commonly used in computer music, especially game music.^[475]
• Music computer — Yamaha's MSX computers, Yamaha Integrated System (YIS) and Yamaha CX5M developed between 1981 and 1983, were the first dedicated music home computers.^[471]
• PCM digital sampler — The Toshiba LMD-649 (1981) was an early digital sampler that played and recorded PCM digital samples.^[476]
  • Multi-timbral polyphony — The Akai S900 (1986) digital sampler was the first multi-timbral MIDI instrument with dynamically‑assigned polyphonic parts.^[477]
• Vowel–consonant synthesis — A type of hybrid digital-analog synthesis first employed by the early Casiotone keyboards in the early 1980s.

Music

Mari Iijima voiced virtual idol Lynn Minmay in Macross (1982) and her album Rosé (1983) debuted the DX7.

• Deep Note — "Loom" by Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), from their album BGM (1981), has "a patiently ascending, two-minute-long Shepard's tone" anticipating the Deep Note.^[478]
• Digital sample loops — YMO's Technodelic (1981) was the first music album with digital sample loops.^[479]
• FM synthesis album — The earliest was Mari Iijima's debut city pop album Rosé (1983), produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto using the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.^[480]
• Electronica — According to Pitchfork, Ryuichi Sakamoto's "E-3A" from the album B-2 Unit (1980) was looking "ahead to Mouse on Mars' idyllic '90s electronica."^[327]
  • Synthwave — YMO's "Mass" from the album BGM (1981) anticipated the "ominous drama" of synthwave according to Noah Yoo of Pitchfork.^[478]
• Electronic hip-hop — YMO's "Music Plans" and "Rap Phenomena" from BGM (1981) were the earliest synthesized electronic rap songs with drum machine beats.^[481]
  • Boom bap — YMO's "Music Plans" from BGM (1981) is credited with introducing boom-bap hip‑hop beats.^[481]
• Electronic dance music (EDM) — Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" from the album B-2 Unit (1980) laid the groundwork for modern electronic dance music.^[482]
  • Broken beat — Foreshadowed by Ryuichi Sakamoto's B-2 Unit (1980).^[483]
  • Electronic body music (EBM) — Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" from B-2 Unit (1980) was "a new body music" that "foretold the future" of music according to Mary Anne Hobbs of BBC Radio 6 Music.^[484]
  • Intelligent dance music (IDM) — Foreshadowed by Ryuichi Sakamoto's B-2 Unit (1980).^[483]
  • 22-beat rhythm — Haruomi Hosono's album S-F-X (1984) experimented with new 22-beat rhythms, which went beyond the standard 8‑beat rhythms of rock music and even the complex rhythms of funk, disco, jazz fusion and hip hop at the time.^[485]
• Funky house — Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Tighten Up" from the album X∞Multiplies (1980) featured "grooves now‑recognizable as funky house" according to Tastemakers Music Magazine.^[486]
  • Ambient house — Pioneered by Yellow Magic Orchestra in the early 1980s.^[487]
  • Deep house — "Heartbeat" (1981) by Colored Music (Ichiko Hasimoto and Atsuo Fujimoto) "sounds remarkably like classic deep house" according to Resident Advisor in 2016.^[488]
• Industrial techno — Ryuichi Sakamoto's B-2 Unit (1980) anticipated the sounds of industrial techno.^[483]
  • Ambient techno — YMO's "Happy End" from the album BGM (1981) was "a progenitor of" ambient techno according to Noah Yoo of Pitchfork.^[478]
• Jungle music — According to Fact magazine, Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Differencia" from the album B-2 Unit (1980) has "relentless tumbling beats and a stabbing bass synth that foreshadows jungle by nearly a decade".^[483]

Cameras

Sony Betamovie BMC-110 (1983), an early consumer camcorder.

• Bridge camera — In early 1988, the first bridge cameras were the Ricoh FF-7, Kyocera Samurai, the Olympus Infinity SuperZoom 300, and the Chinon Genesis.^[489]
• Color CCD video camera — In January 1980, Sony introduced the first color CCD video camera, as part of their Sky Vision entertainment system on jumbo jets.^[278]
  • Integrated circuit video camera (MOS camera) — The Hitachi VK-C1000 (1980) was the first solid-state electronic video camera with single-chip MOS image sensor.^[417]
  • Camcorder (camera recorder) — Prototype camcorders were demonstrated in 1980, with Sony Video Movie (CCD sensor) and then Hitachi Mag Camera (MOS sensor).^[417]
  • Autofocus video camera — The Hitachi VK-C3000 (1982) MOS camera was the first video camera with autofocus.^[417]
• Compact video camera — The CCD-TR55 (1989) was the first passport-size compact video camera.^[417]
• Document camera (visualizer) — Elmo (company) introduced the first document camera in 1988.^[490]
• Event camera — The development of silicon retina event cameras dates back to Kunihiko Fukushima's Reticon in 1989.^[491]
• HD video CCD camera (HD CCD) — In the 1980s, prototype HD CCD cameras were developed by Fujitsu, Ikegami Tsushinki, Matsushita, NEC, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and JVC.^[492]
• Image stabilization — Panasonic invented optical image stabilization (OIS) for the PV-460 (1988) video camera.^[493]
• LCD electronic viewfinder (EVF) — The Nikon F3 (1980) was the first camera with LCD viewfinder.^[165]
• Lithium battery compact camera — The Olympus AFL Picasso (1983) was the first compact camera powered by a lithium battery.^[153]
  • Single-use camera — Fujifilm's QuickSnap (1986) was the first single-use point-and-shoot disposable camera.^[405]
  • Pocket camera — The Konica A4 (1989) was the first pocket-size 35 mm point-and-shoot camera.^[421]
• Matrix metering — The Nikon FA (1983) was the first SLR camera with matrix metering.^[165]
• Miniature video camera — The Toshiba IK-M10A (1986) was the first thumb-sized miniature color video camera using a single‑chip CCD image sensor.^[69]
• Pinhead mirror — The Nikon F3 (1980) was the first TTL camera with a pinhole mirror.^[165]

Minolta Disc-7 (1983), the first selfie camera with selfie stick accessory.

• Selfie camera — The Minolta Disc-7 (1983) was the first camera with a selfie mirror on its front for shooting selfie photos.^[447]
  • Selfie stick — Invented by Hiroshi Ueda for the Minolta Disc-7 (1983), where the package showed the camera mounted on a selfie stick.^[447]
• Single-lens reflex flash camera (flash SLR) — The Pentax SFX (1987) was the first SLR camera with built-in flash.^[167]
• Stereo 3D video camera — The Toshiba SK3D7, developed in 1987 and released in 1989, was the first stereoscopic 3D video camera. It was an adaptation of the Toshiba AI‑30AF, an earlier CCD camcorder.^[417]
• Weather-proof compact camera — The Olympus AF-1 Nuretemo-Pikaso (Wet Flash), released in 1986, was the first weather‑proof compact camera.^[494]

Digital cameras

Sony HDR-AS50 Action Cam, an action camera with underwater housing.

Nikon QV-1000C (1988), the first commercial digital SLR (DSLR) camera.

• 4-color filter array (CFA) — Hitachi's MOS image sensor for the VK-C1000 (1980) camera introduced a 4‑color CFA, in contrast to the standard RGB 3‑color CFA.^[417]
  • Active-pixel sensor (APS) — In 1985, Tsutomu Nakamura's team at Olympus invented the first MOS active‑pixel image sensor using NMOS logic transistors.^[495]
• Action camera (body camera) — The first action camera was the Canon CI-10 (1985) by Canon Inc.^[496]
• All-digital camera (digicam) — Fujifilm's Fujix DS-1P (1988) was the first fully digital camera, recording digital images on a flash memory card developed with Toshiba.^[405]
  • Digital compact camera —The Fujix DS-1P, developed in 1987 and released in 1988, was the first pocket-sized digital camera.^[497]
• Camera monitor — In the early 1980s, Nikon patented a still video camera with a detachable monitor.^[497]
• Digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) — At Photokina 1986, the Nikon SVC was the first prototype DSLR camera, commercialized as the Nikon QV-1000C in 1988.^[498]

• Digital video camera — In 1986, Sony developed a prototype digital video camera that recorded digital video on D-1 (Sony) video cassettes.^[499]
• Frame-interline-transfer CCD (FIT CCD) — Charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor architecture developed by K. Horii, T. Kuroda and T. Kunii at Matsushita in 1981.^[500]
  • HD video image sensor (megapixel) — In 1986, I. Akiyama's team at NEC demonstrated the first HD CCD sensor with 1280×970 (1.2 megapixel) resolution.^[501]
• MOS image sensor chip — Hitachi developed the first single-chip MOS integrated circuit image sensor for the VK‑C1000 (1980) video camera.^[417]

Computing

Epson HX-20, introduced in 1981 and released in 1982, was the first laptop computer.

• 32-bit computer workstation — The Oki if1000 Unitopia (1985) was the first 32-bit UNIX computer workstation.^[169]
  • Engineering workstation (EWS) — The NEC EWS4800 (1986) was the first engineering workstation specialized for software engineering.^[169]
  • 32-bit computer numerical control (CNC) — Mitsubishi's MELDAS 300 (1987) was the first 32-bit CNC.^[259]

• Arrow keys — Fujitsu's OASYS100 (1980) word processor and Fujitsu FM-8 (1981) personal computer introduced a thumb-shift keyboard layout with arrow keys.^[411]
• Cordless digital pen — Introduced by Wacom in 1984.^[502]

• Fifth generation computer — Japan's MITI initiated the Fifth Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) project in 1982.^[503]
  • Massively parallel microcomputers — LINKS-1 (1982) was an early massively parallel computing system with up to 256 microcomputer network nodes.^[169]
  • Gigascale computing (GigaFLOPS) — NEC SX (1983) was the first supercomputer to reach GigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) performance with 1.3 billion FLOPS.^[169]
• Fuzzy computer — Developed by Fujitec for an elevator control system in 1988.^[504]

Casio fx-7000G (1985), the first scientific graphing calculator.

• Graphing calculator — The Casio fx-7000G (1985) was the first scientific calculator with graphing function.^[217]
• Handheld computer (mobile computer) — The Sharp PC-1210 and PC-1211 (1980) were the first handheld pocket computers.^[346]
  • Personal digital assistant (PDA) — The Sharp PC-1211 (1980) was the first PDA.^[505]

• Laptop — The Epson HX-20, introduced in 1981, was the first laptop computer.^[506]
  • 32-bit laptop — The Toshiba T-5100 (1987) was the first 32-bit laptop computer.^[169]
  • Mobile workstation (digital audio workstation) — Yamaha's C1 Music Computer (1988) laptop was the first portable workstation with LCD display.^[471]
• Notebook computer — Yukio Yokozawa, working for Suwa Seikosha (Seiko Epson), invented the first notebook computer in July 1980, introduced as Epson HX-20 in 1981.^[507]
  • A4 notebook computer — The Toshiba Dynabook J-3100 SS (1989) was the first A4 binder size notebook computer.^[169]
• Notebook PC — The NEC UltraLite (1988) was the first IBM PC compatible laptop notebook computer.^[508]
• Personal computer with laserdisc player — The Pioneer Palcom, a 1984 MSX computer, was the first personal computer sold with an optional laserdisc player.^[509]
  • Personal workstation — The term was coined for the Sharp X68000 computer, announced in 1986 and released in 1987.^[169]
  • Personal computer with optical disc drive — Fujitsu's FM Towns, released in February 1989, was the first personal computer sold with a built-in CD-ROM drive.^[169]
• Standardized computer architecture — The first attempt at a standardized computer architecture was the MSX, introduced by ASCII Corporation and Microsoft Japan in 1983.^[510]

Artificial intelligence

Sega AI Computer (1986), the earliest home computer designed for AI and natural language processing.

• Fifth Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) — Initiated by Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1982, researching AI and natural language processing.^[503]
  • KL0 — An AI programming language developed by the FGCS project between 1982 and 1986.^[169]
  • AI computer workstation (personal sequential inference machine) — Mitsubishi's Melcom PSI (developed 1982–1986) was the first AI workstation.^[169]
  • AI home computer — The Sega AI Computer (1986) was the earliest home computer specialized for AI and NLP.^[511]
• Lucas–Kanade method — In computer vision, the Lucas–Kanade method is a widely used differential method for optical flow estimation developed by Takeo Kanade and Bruce D. Lucas in 1981.^[512]
• Mobile translation — The Sharp IQ-3100 (1980) was an early portable electronic translator, supporting Japanese and English.^[278]
• Object detection — In 1981, Takeo Kanade co-developed an object detection algorithm using part-based models.^[513]
• Speech translation — The first voice translator was the Casio VT-100, introduced in February 1981, followed by the Sharp IQ‑5000 several months later.^[278]

Graphics

Popular emoji, including the Face with Tears of Joy emoji.

• 3D computer graphics processor — Developed by Koichi Omura's research team at Osaka University for the LINKS-1 Computer Graphics System (1982).^[169]
  • Render farm — The LINKS-1 Computer Graphics System (1982) was a massively parallel system with up to 256 computer nodes for rendering 3D graphics.^[169]
  • Ray-tracing hardware (interactive raytracing) — The first interactive ray-tracer was the LINKS-1 (1982), used to render 3D graphics with high-speed ray-tracing.^[169]
• Computer display/LCD — The Sharp PC-1211 (1980) pocket computer introduced the first LCD computer display.^[346]
• Emoji — The Sharp PA-8500 (1988) personal digital assistant (PDA) featured the earliest known emoji set resembling modern emoji.^[514]
• Fourier window anti-aliasing — In 1981, T. Nishida and E. Nakamae proposed a spatial anti-aliasing algorithm using Fourier window spatial filtering.^[515]
  • Subpixel anti-aliasing — In 1983, Akira Fujimoto and Kansei Iwata proposed an anti-aliasing algorithm using sub-pixel rendering.^[516]
• High color (16-bit color) — The Sega Super Scaler (1985) arcade game system featured a 16-bit color palette (65,536 colors).^[517]
  • 24-bit color (true color) — In 1986, Sony and AT&T developed a 24-bit color (16 million colors) computer graphics system with Sony Trinitron CPD-1201 monitor.^[518]
  • Super VGA (SVGA) — In 1988, NEC announced its creation of the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) to develop and promote the Super Video Graphics Array (VGA) computer display standard.^[519]

• Large-scale integration GPU (LSI GPU) — The NEC μPD7220 Graphics Display Controller (1981) was the first LSI GPU.^[520]
  • 3D GPU — Namco circa 1985–1988 developed the first 3D polygon graphics GPU for the Namco System 21 Polygonizer arcade game system, debuted with Winning Run (1988).^[521]
  • 32-bit GPU — Sega developed the first 32-bit GPU for the Sega X Board arcade game system, debuted with After Burner (1987).^[522]

NEC MultiSync FE950+ (1999), a 19" CRT display multisync monitor.

• Multisync monitor — The NEC MultiSync (1985) was the first CRT multisync monitor, supporting a wide range of vertical sync and horizontal sync frequencies.^[523]
  • Flicker-free anti-glare screen — In 1985, Hitachi's 2050 and 2020 computer workstations featured flicker-free and anti-glare CRT monitors.^[169]
  • Flat square tube (FST) — FST is a computer CRT flat-panel display monitor technology. Iiyama (company) introduced a 15" FST in 1986 and 21" FST in 1989.^[524]
  • Anti-static anti-reflective coating — In 1988, Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi developed CDT monitors with anti-static, anti-reflex and anti-glare coating.^[83]
• TFEL computer display — In 1983, Sharp developed the first TFEL portable computer display.^[83]
• Tile-based graphics card — HAL Laboratory's PCG (1980) was an early tile-based graphics card for home computers.^[525]
• TV tuner — Sharp X1 (1982) was the first PC with TV tuner. Its RGB monitor could superimpose a computer screen over a TV screen, allowing both on the same monitor.^[176]
• Virtual pet — The first virtual pet was the screenmate application Neko, created by Naoshi Watanabe for the PC-9801 in the 1980s.^[526]

Culture

Fullmark Model B correction tape in pink.

• 2d6 System — Created by Group SNE for Sword World RPG (1989), one of the most successful tabletop role-playing games in Japan.^[446]
• Cash-recycling ATM — Between 1981 and 1982, Oki developed the first cash‑recycling ATM, released as the Oki Auto Teller AT-100 in 1982.^[304]
• Correction tape — Correction tape was invented in 1989 by the Japanese product manufacturer Seed. It is an alternative to correction fluid.^[527]
• Drifting competition — In 1988, Keiichi Tsuchiya and Option magazine founder Daijiro Inada organised the first contest specifically for sliding a car sideways.^[528]
• Driverless shopping cart — In 1989, Japanese retail stores tested driverless robotic shopping carts.^[529]

A gel-based rollerball pen.

• Gel pen — The gel pen was invented in 1984 by the Sakura Color Products Corporation of Osaka.^[530]
• Kūdō — Japanese hybrid martial art founded by Takashi Azuma in 1981.^[531]
• Shoot boxing — Shoot boxing was created in August 1985 by former kickboxer Caesar Takeshi.^[532]
• Waterproof electric shaver — Panasonic's ES566 (1980) was the first waterproof electric shaver.^[94]

Display technology

Sony JumboTron made its debut at Expo '85 (1985).

• 3D video — In 1981, Matsushita demonstrated stereoscopic 3D images stored on video tape.^[366]
• AV receiver — Denon's AVC-500 (1985) was the first audio-visual (AV) amplifier, enabling the development of modern home cinema.^[164]

• Invar shadow mask — Developed by Toshiba for a CDT computer monitor in 1983 and a CRT television set in 1986.^[83]

• Large-screen television technology (video wall) — Mitsubishi's Diamond Vision (1980) was the first large-scale color video display system.^[200]
  • Flood-beam CRT — Developed by K. Kurahashi's steam at Mitsubishi for the Diamond Vision (1980).^[200]
  • Jumbotron — Introduced by Sony at the Expo '85 held in May 1985 at Tsukuba, Ibaraki.^[533]
• S-Video — The S-Video cable standard was introduced in 1987 with JVC's S-VHS format.^[534]
• Video recorder scheduling code — In 1987, Matsushita introduced programme control of video recorders.^[200]

Digital

Nintendo Switch OLED (2021), a hybrid game console with OLED display.

• AMLCD TV — In 1980, the first commercial active-matrix LCD (AMLCD) product was a portable television by Seiko Epson.^[305]
  • Color LCD TV — In 1980, Seiko Epson introduced a 1.5" portable color TV using AMLCD technology.^[305]
• Color electroluminescent display (ELD) — Demonstrated by K. Okamoto of Osaka University in 1981.^[535]
  • Chip-on-glass (COG) — Developed by Kyocera in 1987, used for manufacturing LCD and OLED displays.^[220]
• Color TFT LCD — In 1983, amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film transistor (TFT) color LCD panels were demonstrated by Sanyo, Canon and Sanritsu.^[220]
  • Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) — Polysilicon (poly-Si) TFT LCD displays using LTPS were developed by Hitachi and Seiko Epson in 1983.^[305]
  • Color super-twisted nematic (CSTN) — Toshiba, Sharp and Mitsubishi introduced super-twisted nematic (STN) color LCD displays in the 1980s.^[220]
  • Dual-scan super twisted nematic (DSTN) — In 1987, Seiko Epson developed a dual‑scan STN (DSTN) LCD display.^[83]
• Digital TV (DTV) — In the mid-1980s, Toshiba, Sony and NEC released early digital TV sets that converted analog TV signals into digital video signals.^[536]
  • DTV broadcast — Proposed in 1986 by NTT and Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Japan) for the INS-Net service.^[537]
• Digital video optical disc — Matsushita's Erasable Optical Memory Disc Recorder System (1983) was the first optical disc format storing digital video content.^[538]
• Digital video recorder (DVR) — In the 1980s, prototype digital HD video recorders were developed by Canon, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Sanyo.^[492]
  • Digital component video — The D-1 (Sony) digital videocassette format introduced in 1986 was the first commercial digital component video format.^[539]
• Enhanced-definition television (EDTV) — Nippon TV (NTV) broadcast Clear-Vision (EDTV) in 1989 and Wide Clear Vision (widescreen EDTV) in 1995.^[540]
  • Improved-definition television (IDTV) — In 1989, IDTV used digital electronics to improve NTSC picture quality in Japan.^[492]
• Ferroelectric liquid crystal display (FLCD) — By 1985, Seiko had demonstrated a color FLCD panel.^[541]
• H.261 — The majority of patents for the H.261 (1988) video coding standard were from Japanese companies, including Hitachi, NTT, Toshiba, KDDI, Sony, Sharp, Oki and Matsushita.^[542]
  • MPEG (MPEG-1) — In 1988, Hiroshi Yasuda co-founded the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) to develop the MPEG-1 video coding standard.^[543]
• LCD projector (3LCD) — In 1986, S. Morozumi's team at Seiko Epson introduced the first modern LCD projector, a portable color LCD video projector with 3LCD and TFT LCD.^[544]
  • Laser projector — In 1986, Y. Nagae's team at Hitachi developed a smectic color LCD laser projector with HD resolution up to 1000×1000 pixels (1 megapixel).^[545]
  • Home cinema LCD projector — In 1989, Sharp released the first 100" LCD video projector for home use.^[73]
• Metal–insulator–metal LCD (MIM LCD) — In 1981, Seiko Epson co-developed the first LCD display using metal‑insulator‑metal (MIM) diodes.^[83]
• Multi-primary color display (RGBW) — In 1988, Toshiba and IBM Yamato Facility developed a 14" LCD with RGBW (RGB and white) primary color quad sub-pixels.^[305]
• Smart TV — Introduced in Japan during the early 1980s. LSI chips with memory and character generator enabled a mix of programming and information over TV signals.^[546]
• Stereoscopic handheld — The Bandai LCD Solarpower game Terror House (1982) and Tomy's Tomytronic 3D (1983) featured early stereoscopic 3D displays.^[547]
• Stereoscopic video game — SubRoc-3D, developed by Sega and Matsushita from 1981 to 1982, was the first stereoscopic 3D game with active shutter 3D system.^[366]

High-definition

Sony HDVS system for HD video (1980s), including videodisc player, VTRs, video cameras, and monitors.

• 4K resolution — NEC μPD7220 (1981) computer GPU supports monochrome resolutions up to 4096×1024p (progressive) or 4096×2048i (interlaced).^[548]
• Digital HD video recording (HD digital VTR) — In 1984, NHK STRL developed a prototype digital HD VTR recording HD content on video tape at 1920×1035 resolution.^[549]
  • HD video disc — NHK STRL developed prototype digital HD video disc formats including the CD-HV (1984) 700 MB optical disc, the AHD (1985) 2.54 GB stylus video disc, and 6.4 GB magneto-optic disk (1987).^[549]
• Full HD color display (2K resolution) — In 1986, Sony developed the first Trinitron color HD computer monitor with up to 2048×2048 (4 megapixels) resolution.^[550]
• HDTV program — NHK's Images for Hi-Vision (1982) was the first HDTV program, broadcast on NHK's Hi-Vision HDTV.^[46]
  • HDTV sports broadcasting — The 1984 Summer Olympics, where NHK shot some of the events in HD video, was the first sporting event broadcast on HDTV.^[46]
• HD video decoder — In the 1980s, HD video decoders were released by Hitachi, NEC, NHK, Sanyo and Toshiba.^[492]
  • HD video encoder — In the 1980s, HD video encoders were released by Canon, Ikegami Tsushinki, NHK and Toshiba.^[492]
• HD video LCD display — In the 1980s, prototype HD LCD displays were developed by NEC, Sanyo and Sharp.^[492]
  • HD video plasma display — In 1988, NHK STRL developed a prototype 20" HD plasma display.^[549]
• HD video recording (HD VCR) — Introduced with the Sony HDVS (High-Definition Video System) in 1981, including a VCR recording HD video on U-matic cassettes.^[551]
  • HD video projector (CRT projector) — The Sony HDVS (1981) system introduced a 100" CRT HDTV projector.^[551]
  • HD large-screen television technology (rear-projection TV) — The Sony HDVS (1981) system introduced a 55" rear‑projection HDTV.^[552]
• Large-screen digital HD CRT display — In 1986, Sony developed a 41" Trinitron color HD CRT with 1,861 pixels horizontal resolution, compatible with HDTV and computers.^[553]
• Ultra HD (UHD) — Hitachi's ARTC HD63484 (1984) computer GPU supports monochrome 4K UHD resolutions up to 4096×2048p (progressive) or 4096×4096i (interlaced).^[554]
• Ultra HD+ (8K resolution) — In 1986, Sony introduced a smectic light valve LCD laser projector that could display UHD+ resolutions up to 8K resolution (8000×10,000).^[305]

Timekeeping

Casio TC-500 (1983) smartwatch with touchscreen and calculator watch function.

• Automatic quartz — The first watch to combine self-winding with a crystal oscillator for timekeeping was unveiled by Seiko in 1986.^[288]
• Digital thermometer — The Casio TS-1000 (1982) was the first wristwatch with built-in thermometer.^[365]
  • Shock-resistant watch — The Casio G-Shock DW-5000C (1983) was the first tough shock-resistant watch that could withstand shocks, drops and impacts.^[365]
• Voice recording watch — Seiko's Voice Note (1983) was the first watch with voice recording function, which could be played back or used for voice alerts.^[288]
• Wearable TV watch — Seiko's TV-Watch (also known as Dick Tracy), introduced in 1980 and released in 1982, was the first AMLCD TV watch.^[305]
• Smartwatch — Casio Databank series (1983–1991) were early smartwatches with calculator, PDA, memory, touchscreen, gesture recognition, phonebook and calendar.^[365]

Domestic appliances

A hands-free automatic faucet in Japan.

• Automatic faucet — In 1984, the first commercial hands-free automatic faucet was launched by Toto Ltd.^[407]
• Bread machine — The bread machine was developed and released in Japan in 1986 by the Matsushita Electric Industrial Company (Panasonic).^[555]
• Dual-swing refrigerator — In 1989, Sharp introduced the first dual-swing refrigerator, with doors that opened from both the left and right.^[176]

Portable air conditioner by Olympus Corporation.

• Inverter air conditioner (inverter AC) — In 1980, Toshiba introduced the first inverter AC.^[46]
  • Bladeless fan — The first bladeless electric fan was patented by Toshiba in 1981.^[556]
  • Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) — VRF systems (larger multi-split systems) were invented by Daikin in 1982. It was first sold in Japan.^[406]
• Robotic vacuum cleaner — The Tomy Dustbot (1985), part of Tomy's Omnibot series, was the first floor‑cleaning robot with built‑in vacuum cleaner.^[557]
• Smart glass (switchable glass) — UMU (1987) by Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) was the first switchable light control glass. It could switch between translucent and opaque.^[558]
• Smart toilet — Invented by Toto in the 1980s.^[559]
• Sound Princess
• Sushi machine

Energy technology

Lithium-ion battery pack for a laptop computer.

Bandai LCD Solarpower (1982), the first solar-powered video game device.

• Amorphous solar-powered calculator — Panasonic's CX-1 (1980) was the first calculator with amorphous silicon solar battery.^[94]
• Digital control inverter drive — Yaskawa's VS-616H II (1985) was the first digital control drive.^[258]
  • Variable-voltage variable-frequency drive (VVVF) — In 1988, Toyo Denki developed VVVF inverter with heat-pipe type 8-unit motor batch control technology for Tokyu.^[229]
  • IGBT inverter — Yaskawa's VS-618G II LN (1988) was the first inverter using IGBT power transistor technology.^[258]
• Inverter compressor — Introduced with Toshiba's inverter air conditioner in 1980.^[46]
  • Inverter Generator — Honda's EX300 (1987) was the first portable generator equipped with an inverter circuit.^[230]
• LED center high-mounted stop lamp (CHMSL) — Stanley Electric invented the first LED CHMSL, installed on the Nissan Fairlady Z car in 1986.^[560]
• Lithium-ion battery (LIB) — Invented by Akira Yoshino in 1985 based on work by Koichi Mizushima (scientist), John Goodenough and Rachid Yazami circa 1979–1980.^[107]
  • Solid-state battery (thin-film lithium-ion battery) — Hitachi Central Research Laboratory circa 1983–1986 developed the first thin-film LIB battery (TFLB).^[561]
• Microprocessor numerical relay — In 1980, Toshiba introduced the first microprocessor‑based numerical relay.^[85]
• Microturbine refrigeration — Hitachi's MET-501 (1986) was the first helium refrigerator with microturbine.^[562]
  • Cogeneration gas turbine — IHI's IM400 (1987) was the first gas turbine for a combined heat and power (cogeneration) system at a Sumitomo Chemical plant.^[250]
• Nickel–metal hydride battery (Ni–MH) — In 1989, the first commercial Ni–MH battery was developed in Japan.^[563]
• Solar battery — In 1984, Shunpei Yamazaki's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) developed the first solar battery using a laser scribing method.^[564]

• Solar-powered video game system — The Bandai LCD Solarpower (1982) handheld game system was the first solar‑powered video game device.^[547]
  • Solar car racing — In 1987, Shunpei Yamazaki's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) participated in the first World Solar Challenge (WSC).^[564]
• Ultra-supercritical steam generator — In 1989, Toshiba developed the first large-capacity ultra‑supercritical pressure steam turbine.^[85]

Mechanical technology

See also: Japanese robotics

A Ricoh 5055 multi-function printer (MFP).

• Color laser printer — The NEC N7385-21 (1987) was the first multi-color laser page printer.^[169]
• Microcomputer line printer — In 1980, Citizen Watch introduced first microcomputer‑controlled line impact printer.^[414]
• Micro robot — NEC's ARMS-D, introduced in 1981, was the first industrial robot with micrometre level precision, enabled by NEC 8085 microprocessor technology.^[565]
  • Industrial robot with linear motor — NEC's ARMS-D (1981) was the first industrial robot to use linear motors.^[565]
• Multi-function printer (MFP) — Canon PC Printer 70 (1984) was a photocopier, printer, computer and monitor. Canon CLC800 (1994) was a photocopier and laser printer.^[216]
• Printer tracking dots — Developed in the mid-1980s by Canon, Fujifilm and Xerox.^[566]
• Thermal-transfer printing — The SATO M-2311 (1981) by SATO Corporation was the first thermal-transfer barcode printer.^[567]
• Toy robot arm — Tomy's Armatron, introduced in 1982, was the first toy robot arm, moved by dual analog control joysticks. It had a significant influence on the development of modern robotics and artificial intelligence.^[568]
• Video game peripheral robot — Nintendo's R.O.B. (1985) was the first robot peripheral for a video game.^[569]
• Wall running robot — Developed by Hitachi in 1986.^[570]

Microtechnology

Renesas insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) used in Canon Speedlite camera flash.

• Automatic mold semiconductor packaging — Developed in 1980 by Towa using multi‑plunger mold, enabling mass production of high-quality semiconductor devices.^[571]
  • Multi-photon lithography — Invented by Hideo Kodama in 1981, originally for 3D printing stereolithography.^[572]
  • Photopolymerization — Invented by Kodama for 3D printing in 1981.^[573]
  • Synthetic diamond chemical vapor deposition (diamond CVD) — In 1986, SEL lab developed the SEL μH-2, the first diamond deposition apparatus.^[564]
• CD-ROM — Sony and Philips created the technical standard that defines the CD-ROM format in 1983.^[574]
• Compact floppy (3-inch floppy) — The 3-inch Compact Floppy Disk format was developed by Hitachi Maxell and Matsushita in 1982.^[575]

• Extreme ultraviolet lithography (nanolithography) — Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) was invented by Hiroo Kinoshita at NTT in the mid-1980s and first successfully demonstrated in 1986.^[576]
• Fuzzy electronics — In 1980, T. Yamakawa's team built the first fuzzy electronic circuit with bipolar discrete components.^[398]
• Magneto-optical drive — In 1982, KDDI researchers Yasuyuki Nagao, Shinsuke Tanaka, Fujio Tanaka and Nobutake Imamura first demonstrated magneto-optical disc recording technology.^[577]
  • Erasable optical disc drive — Matsushita's Erasable Optical Memory Disc Recorder System, introduced in early 1983, was the first erasable ODD. It was capable of storing and erasing digital video, images and documents.^[538]
  • LD-ROM — In 1984, Sony first demonstrated a laserdisc format designed to store digital data, with a 3.28 GB capacity.^[578]
• Memory card — In 1984, Japanese company Logitec developed the first erasable optical storage memory card, created for interchangeable arcade game systems.^[579]
• Micro-floppy (3.5-inch floppy) — The standardized 3.5-inch floppy disk format was developed by Sony in 1981.^[580]

• Multi-gate MOSFET — In 1980, the XMOS transistor developed by Toshihiro Sekigawa of Electrotechnical Laboratory was the first double-gate MOSFET.^[581]
  • Gate-all-around MOSFET (GAAFET) — In 1988, Fujio Masuoka's Toshiba research team demonstrated the first nanowire GAAFET.^[582]

• Non-latch-up IGBT — Akio Nakagawa's team at Toshiba invented the non-latch-up IGBT in 1984. Toshiba commercialized the technology in 1985.^[85]
  • Organic field-effect transistor (OFET) — In 1986, a Mitsubishi research team led by H. Koezuka reported the first OFET.^[583]
• Oxypnictide — Discovered by a Tokyo Institute of Technology team under Hideo Hosono in 2006.^[584]
• Quantum flux parametron — Eiichi Goto invented the quantum flux parametron in 1986 using superconducting Josephson junctions on IC chips.^[180]
• Semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon (SIPOS) — Developed by Sony in 1980.^[278]
• THz radiation laser — In 1980, Junichi Nishizawa demonstrated the first 12 THz electromagnetic wave using a Raman semiconductor laser.^[1]

Integrated circuits

A double-gate fin field-effect transistor (FinFET).

• 32-bit microprocessor — In 1981, NTT developed a prototype 32-bit microprocessor using VLSI technology.^[386]
• Digital signal processor (DSP) — The NEC μPD7720 (1980) was the first commercial DSP chip.^[46]
• Fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) — In 1989, the DELTA transistor demonstrated by Digh Hisamoto's Hitachi research team was the first FinFET.^[585]
• Flash memory (NOR flash) — Flash memory was invented by Fujio Masuoka while working at Toshiba. In 1980, he filed a patent for NOR flash memory.^[586]
  • NAND flash — Invented by Fujio Masuoka, while working at Toshiba, in 1986.^[586]
  • Flash memory card — The Fujix Image Memory Card (1988) by Fujifilm and Toshiba was the earliest flash memory card, compatible with digital cameras from Fuji and Toshiba.^[587]
• Fuzzy electronics integrated circuit (fuzzy IC) — In 1984, M.Togai and H.Watanabe demonstrated the first fuzzy VLSI chip.^[398]
  • Fuzzy controller — In 1987, T. Yamakawa demonstrated the first analog fuzzy controller.^[398]
  • Fuzzy controller microprocessor — In 1988, M. Togai developed digital fuzzy processors.^[398]
• Megabyte memory chip (MB) — The first megabyte (MB) memory chip was a DRAM chip demonstrated by Hitachi in January 1984.^[588]
  • Embedded DRAM (eDRAM) — In 1988, Kazuhiro Sawada's Toshiba research team demonstrated an embedded 1 Mbit DRAM chip for embedded system applications.^[589]
• Plastic CPU — In 1984, Shunpei Yamazaki's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) developed the first CPU chip on a plastic substrate.^[564]
• Shallow trench isolation (STI) — Developed by Osamu Kudoh's NEC research team in 1984.^[590]
• Through-silicon via (TSV) — The first 3D IC chips fabricated with TSV technology were developed during the 1980s in Japan. The first TSV patents were filed by Hitachi in 1983 and Fujitsu in 1984.^[591]
• Wafer bonding — Proposed by Yoichi Akasaka's Mitsubishi research team in 1986. In 1989, Yoshihiro Hayashi's NEC research team fabricated a two active layer 3D IC chip using CUBIC (Cumulatively Bonded IC) technology.^[592]

Automobiles

Nissan 300ZX (Fairlady Z).

• 4-wheel multi-link suspension — The Nissan Fairlady Z Model Z32 (1989) featured the first four-wheel multi-link suspension system.^[225]
• 5-speed automated manual transmission (AMT) — Isuzu Aska's NAVi5 (1985) introduced the first 5-speed AMT.^[593]
  • 5-speed automatic transmission (AT) — Introduced with Jatco 5R01 transmission (1989) by Jatco and Nissan, used in various Nissan vehicles.^[225]
• 5-valve engine — Mitsubishi were the first to market a car engine with five valves per cylinder, with the 548 cc 3G81 engine in their Minica Dangan ZZ kei car in 1989.^[594]
• Cam-shifting variable valve timing (VVT) — Between 1982 and 1989, Honda invented VTEC, a VVT system hydraulically selecting between two (or three) camshaft profiles.^[595]
• Ceramic engine — Nissan Fairlady Z (300ZX), launched 1989, was equipped with the first ceramic turbocharger, developed between 1985 and 1989.^[225]
• Disc brake with parking brake — In 1981, Tokico invented the first disk brake with a parking brake function, originally installed on a Nissan Fairlady Z.^[69]
• Dual-mass flywheel (DMF) — Introduced with the Toyota Mark II in 1984.^[596]
• Fluoropolymer automotive paint — In 1988, Nissan introduced painting with fluorocarbon polymers.^[225]
• Insulated vehicle glass — In 1985, Nissan introduced insulated rear window glass to improve automotive air conditioning performance.^[225]
• Modulated displacement (MD) — In early 1982, Mitsubishi Motors introduced modulated displacement (MD), a form of variable displacement first used in Mitsubishi's 1.4 L 4G12 straight-four engine.^[597]

• Triple-viscous four-wheel drive (4WD) — In January 1987, Nissan introduced the first triple-viscous full-time 4WD vehicles, with the Nissan Pulsar, Nissan EXA, Nissan Langley and Liberta Villa models.^[225]
• Turbo rotary engine — In 1982, the Mazda Cosmo (929) and Mazda Luce (929) were the first cars with a rotary turbo engine. In 1986, the Mazda Luce (929) introduced a twin-turbo rotary engine configuration.^[228]
• Variable-geometry turbocharger — Introduced by the Honda Legend Wing Turbo (1988).^[598]
• Water intercooler — Introduced with the Toyota M-TEU engine in 1983.^[596]

Electronics

Backup camera view on the navigation screen of a Lexus IS 250 (2005).

• 4-wheel steering (4WS) — Mazda were pioneers in applying four-wheel steering to automobiles, demonstrating it on their Mazda MX-02 (1984) concept car.^[599]
  • 4WS speed-sensitive steering — The Mazda Capella (626), released in 1987, introduced the first speed-sensitive 4WS system.^[228]
• Advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS)
  • Voice warning system — In 1980, the Toyota Mark II was the first car with a voice warning system.^[596]
  • Voice command — In 1982, the Nissan Silvia S110 introduced voice recognition for operating the power windows.^[225]
  • Automotive head-up display (HUD) — Nissan was the first manufacturer to offer a HUD with the Nissan Silvia S13 (1988).^[225]

• Backup camera (rear-view camera) — First production automobile with a backup camera was the Toyota Crown in 1987.^[596]
• Car navigation system — In 1980, the Toyota Crown introduced the Electro Auto Compass, the first car navigation system.^[596]
  • Automotive dead reckoning — Used in first car navigation systems, including Toyota's Electro Auto Compass (1980) and Honda's Electro Gyrocator (1981).^[431]
  • Digital map — Honda's Electro Gyrocator (1981) was the first car navigation system with a digital map display, using a small CRT display.^[431]

Electro Multi Vision in a 1987 Toyota Crown. It was an early carputer system.

• Carputer — Electro Multi Vision by Denso and Toyota was an integrated computer system for the 1985 Toyota Soarer and 1987 Toyota Crown.^[600] It introduced features including:
  • Digital dash CRT display (1985)^[601]
  • High-resolution on-board diagnostics (1985)^[601]
  • In-car entertainment TV/VCR combo (1985)^[601]
  • Touchscreen interface (1987)^[600]
  • High-resolution digital map color display — Introduced on the 1987 Toyota Crown, using a CD-ROM drive.^[431]
• Collision avoidance system (CAS) — The first CAS systems were Toyota's Clearance Sonar (Aug 1989), Nissan's Traffic Eye (Dec 1989) and Isuzu's CAS system (1990).^[602]
• Electronically controlled automated manual transmission (AMT) — Introduced with Isuzu Aska's NAVi5 in 1985.^[593]
• Electronically adjustable suspension dampers — In 1981, the Nissan Skyline Turbo GT-ES introduced the first electronically adjustable suspension shock absorbers.^[603]
  • Continuously variable damping — Invented by Honda engineers Yoshihiko Toshimitsu, Toshihiko Aoyama and Takashi Ishida in 1984.^[604]
• Electronically controlled suspension (ECS) — The 1983 Toyota Soarer introduced Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension (TEMS), the first electronically controlled car suspension.^[596]
  • Semi-active suspension (SAS) — The 1983 Toyota Soarer's TEMS system was the first SAS in a production car.^[596]
  • Ultrasonic electronically controlled suspension — The Nissan Bluebird Maxima Model PU11 (1984) introduced Super Sonic Electronic Control Suspension with ultrasonic road surface sonar.^[225]
  • Active air suspension — Introduced in 1984 with the Mitsubishi Galant's CECS (Chassis Electronic Control Systems).^[605]
  • Electronically controlled air suspension (ECAS) — In 1986, the Toyota Soarer had the first electronically controlled full air suspension (spring constant, variable attenuation force) installed.^[596]
• Electronically controlled continuously variable transmission (ECVT) — In early 1987, Subaru launched the Justy in Tokyo with an ECVT developed by Fuji Heavy Industries, which owns Subaru.^[606]
• Electronic Diesel Control — In August 1982, Toyota introduced a microprocessor-based engine control system for diesel engines.^[607]

• Fully active suspension — The Toyota Celica (1989) introduced Toyota Active Control Suspension, the first fully active suspension without anti-roll bars.^[596]
  • Hydraulic active suspension — Nissan's Infiniti Q45 Model G50 (1989) was the first passenger car with hydraulic active suspension.^[225]
• Keycard lock — In 1985, the Nissan Skyline (R31) introduced a car lock system that allows locking and unlocking with a card.^[225]
  • Laser cut car key — Toyota's Lexus LS400 (1989) was the first major car with a laser-cut key.^[608]
• LCD rear-view mirror — Nissan Laurel C32 (1984) introduced an auto reflex room mirror using automatic anti-glare LCD.^[225]
  • Electrochromic rear-view mirror — Invented by Nissan engineers Harutoshi Miyagi, Masazumi Ishikawa and Yasuyuki Murofushi between 1985 and 1986.^[609]
• Parking sensor — In January 1982, the Toyota Corona introduced ultrasonic Back Sonar, the first production parking proximity sensor.^[596]
  • Windshield wiper sensor — In 1983, Nissan Cedric and Nissan Gloria introduced the first windshield wipers that adjust to changes in snow and rain sensor levels.^[225]
• Power side-view mirror — The Nissan Laurel C32 (1984) introduced electric retractable side-view mirrors.^[225]
  • Anti-glare side-view mirror — The Nissan Cefiro A31 (1988) introduced automatic anti-glare door mirrors.^[225]
• Traction control system (TCS) — Toyota introduced TCS for the Toyota Crown (1987) and improved it for the Lexus LS400 (1989).^[610]

Sciences

ASICS Gel Kayano 15 shoes with some Betagel in yellow.

• Betagel (alphagel) — Taica invented alphagel (αGEL) in 1984.^[415]
• Cosmic neutrino (solar neutrino) — Discovered by Masatoshi Koshiba in the early 1980s, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics.^[107]

• Information geometry — The modern theory is largely due to Shun'ichi Amari in the early 1980s. His work has been greatly influential on the development of the field.^[611]
• Kamiokande
• Magnetic field microscopic observation — In 1982, Hitachi made the first successful microscopic scale observation of a magnetic field using electron beam holography.^[403]
• Neodymium magnet (rare-earth magnet) — The first neodymium magnets were invented independently in 1982 by Sumitomo Special Metals and General Motors.^[612]
• Ozone hole — Discovered by S. Chubachi at Showa Station (Antarctica) in 1983.^[613]
• Planetarium projector with 3D ray tracing — LINKS-1 Computer Graphics System used to create the first 3D planetarium video with ray-traced 3D computer graphics in 1985.^[169]
• Takagi–Sugeno–Kang (TSK) — A fuzzy logic system proposed by Tomohiro Takagi and Michio Sugeno in 1985.^[614]
• Variable-frequency heavy-ion linear accelerator (RILAC) — In 1981, Masatoshi Odera's team at Riken developed RILAC, the first variable-frequency heavy ion linear particle accelerator.^[615]

Biomedical science

Miniature USB microscope, a type of digital microscope.

Digital X-ray medical imaging system with medical monitor (1995).

• Antiretroviral medication (anti-AIDS) — In 1985, Hiroaki Mitsuya discovered anti-HIV drug zidovudine (AZT) and anti-AIDS drugs didanosine (ddI) and zalcitabine (ddC).^[245]
• Autofocus microscope — The Olympus AH-2 (1983) was the first high‑performance microscope with autofocus (AF) function.^[153]
  • Digital microscope — Invented by Japanese company Hirox in 1985.^[616]
  • Video microscopy — Invented by Hirox in 1985.^[616]
• Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) — Yoshizumi Ishino discovered CRISPR in 1987. It is the basis for CRISPR gene editing.^[617]
• Digital radiography (digital X-ray) — Fujifilm's FCR (1981) was the first digital X-ray diagnostic imaging system with computer processing.^[405]
• Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) — Introduced by Olympus in 1982.^[618]
• Endothelin — Discovered by Masashi Yanagisawa in 1988.^[245]

• HD video brain surgery — In 1987, a brain surgery was first recorded in HD video using NHK's Hi-Vision analog HDTV technology.^[46]
• Isolation amplifier — Fukuda Denshi's FX-102 (1983) was the first ECG with isolation amplifier.^[121]
• Medical imaging display monitor — In 1982, JVC introduced a CRT monitor for medical imaging.^[154]

Telecommunication

A pair of modern automatic doors.

• 2G digital mobile network — The first 2G digital mobile data networks were Japan's Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) in 1989 and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) in 1991.^[425]
  • Gigahertz mobile network (GHz) — The first GHz band mobile networks were Japan's 2G networks PHS (1989) and PDC (1991).^[425]
• Antenna-less cordless telephone — In 1983, Funai developed the first antenna-less cordless telephone.^[619]
  • Hands free car phone — Introduced with the 1987 Toyota Crown's Electro Multi Vision system developed by Denso and Toyota.^[600]
  • Cordless phone answering machine — In 1989, Sharp introduced the first low‑power cordless phone with an answering machine function.^[176]

• Automatic door infrared sensor — In 1980, Japanese company OPTEX developed the first automatic door using far infrared sensor technology.^[620]
  • Wireless outdoor security sensor — In 1983, OPTEX developed the earliest wireless outdoor security sensor.^[620]
• Digital telephony electronic switching system (ESS) — Fujitsu's FETEX-150 (1981) was the first fully digital ESS with a full digital telephone switchboard.^[411]
  • Digital answering machine — In 1983, Kazuo Hashimoto invented the first digital answering machine.^[621]
• LCD mobile display — In 1985, the first mobile phone with LCD display was developed in Japan.^[60]
• Wireless broadband — In 1980, Seizo Onoe at Kyoto University demonstrated wireless mobile radio transmission at 1.544 megabits per second (Mbit/s).^[424]

Internet

See also: Internet in Japan

Optical fiber connectors with protective caps.

• Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) — Fujitsu's FETEX-150 (1981) was the first commercial ATM electronic switching system (ESS).^[411]

• Camera phone (image sharing) — In 1984, Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun used Canon's Still Video System D413 camera to send digital photos over a phone line.^[497]
  • Digital videophone — Mitsubishi's Luma 1000 (1986) was the first practical videophone for home use, where digital images were streamed over a phone line.^[622]
• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) — Introduced with NTT's Integrated Services Network (INS‑Net). After 1984–1987 field tests, it was launched in 1988.^[623]
  • Broadband fibre-optic network (broadband ISDN) — Introduced with NTT's INS-Net 1500 (1.5 Mbit/s). After 1986–1987 field tests, it launched in 1989.^[623]
  • Image sharing online service — In the 1980s, NTT's INS-Net introduced an image sharing service supporting high-resolution color digital images.^[623]
• Optical fiber connector (TOSLINK) — Developed by Toshiba in 1983.^[624]
  • Synchronous optical network (SONET) — In 1989, NEC and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) developed the first commercial synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) system.^[209]
• Streaming media (music streaming service) — In the 1980s, NTT's INS-Net launched with a music streaming service allowing digital music transmission.^[623]
• Video on demand (online video platform) — In 1986, a video-on-demand (VOD) service was first proposed for INS-Net.^[537]

Transportation

Spiral escalator in Times Square (Hong Kong).

• Cockpit camera — The Sony XC-1 (1980) was the first cockpit camera for All Nippon Airways (ANA) B747 aircraft.^[417]
• Color ruggedized CRT display — Developed by Toshiba in 1982 for commercial aircraft.^[83]
  • Avionic CRT display with electrostatic deflection and magnetic deflection — Developed by Sony in 1983.^[83]
  • CRT display for air traffic control (ATC) — In 1986, Sony developed a large Trinitron CRT display for ATC.^[83]
  • Avionic LCD display — In 1987, Hosiden began manufacturing AMLCD displays for avionics.^[305]
• Digital data telemetry — In 1980, A. Nakagawa co-developed the Miniature Optical Stereo Evaluation System (MOSES), a fibre‑optic digital telemetry system.^[435]
• In-flight entertainment video camera — In January 1980, Sony introduced the Sky Vision entertainment system on jumbo jets, using a color CCD video camera to give passengers a bird's eye view of passing scenery.^[278]
• Inverter-controlled high-speed gearless elevator — Introduced by Toshiba in 1985, using IGBT-based inverter-controlled gearless drive system.^[85]
• Spiral escalator — Mitsubishi developed the first spiral escalator in 1984 and commercialized it in 1985.^[259]

1990s

See also: 1990s in Japan

Arts

An interpretation of digital rain.

• Battle royale genre — The genre was established by Koushun Takami's novel Battle Royale (1999) and Kinji Fukasaku's 2000 film adaptation.^[625]
• Digital cinema — In 1992, Hughes-JVC was co-founded by JVC to develop ILA (Image Light Amplifer) digital video projectors for movie theaters using LCOS technology.^[626]
• Digital rain — Originates from the cyberpunk anime film Ghost in the Shell (1995), a strong influence on The Matrix (1999).^[627]
• Glitch music — The genre was pioneered by Ryoji Ikeda in the 1990s.^[628]
• King's Road style
• Lean manufacturing (just-in-time) — A generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and identified as Lean in the 1990s.^[629]
• Mobile comic — Following the launch of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode (1999), Japanese mobile phones began offering downloadable mobile manga comics.^[630]
• Original net animation (ONA) — Makoto Shinkai was a pioneer of ONA, producing the earliest ONA short films with Tōi Sekai (1997) and Kakomareta Sekai (1998).^[631]
  • Animated web film — The earliest animated web films were Makoto Shinkai's ONA short films Tōi Sekai (1997) and Kakomareta Sekai (1998).^[631]
• Para Para
• Shibuya-kei — A music genre that flourished in Japan during the 1990s.^[632]
• Soramimi — Derived from long-running "Soramimi Hour" segment (debuted 1992) on Japanese comedian Tamori's TV program Tamori Club.^[633]
• Sweat drop — The sweat drop had long been part of manga iconography. The first animation to depict a large sweat drop, when a character is in trouble, is believed to be the 1991 anime adaptation of the manga Goldfish Warning!^[634]
• Time loop animation — Mamoru Oshii's Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, produced in 1983 and released in 1984, was the first animated film about a time loop, predating Groundhog Day (1993).^[635]
• Virtual influencer — The Japanese talent agency Horipro created the first real-life AI virtual influencer, Kyoko Date, in 1995.^[636]

Automobiles

1996 Honda Civic (released 1995), the first low emission vehicle (LEV).

• Active exhaust system — Introduced with the Mitsubishi 3000GT in 1990.^[637]
• Low emission vehicle (LEV) – The first LEV was the 1996 Honda Civic, released in 1995.^[638]
  • Ultra-low-emission vehicle (ULEV) – The first ULEV was the Honda Accord in 1997.^[638]
  • Super ultra-low emission vehicle (SULEV) – The first SULEV was the Honda Accord in 1999.^[638]
• Miller cycle car engine — The Mazda Millenia (1993) was the world's first production car to employ a Miller cycle engine.^[228]

Honda Civic GX (1998), the first natural gas vehicle (NGV) and partial zero-emissions vehicle (PZEV).

• Natural gas vehicle (NGV) — The Honda Civic GX (1997) was the first production car to run on compressed natural gas (CNG).^[639]
  • Partial zero-emissions vehicle (PZEV) – The Honda Civic GX (1997) was the first PZEV.^[638]
• NOx adsorber — Introduced by Toyota in 1994.^[640]
• Plasma spark ignition system — Introduced by Nissan in 1982.^[225]
• Semi-monocoque car — The Honda NSX (1990) was the first production car to feature an all-aluminium semi-monocoque.^[641]
• Torque vectoring — In 1996, Honda and Mitsubishi released sports cars with torque vectoring systems. Torque vectoring differentials were originally used in auto racing. Mitsubishi rally cars were some of the earliest to use the technology.^[642]
• VVT-i — Introduced by Toyota with the 4A-GE (1991) and 2JZ-GE (1995) engines.^[596]

Electronics

Nissan Altra EV (1997), an early battery electric vehicle (BEV) using lithium-ion car battery.

• Active noise control (ANC) — The Nissan Bluebird U13 (1991) was the first production vehicle with active noise control.^[225]
• Adaptive cruise control (ACC) — Introduced in 1992 with the Mitsubishi Debonair, the first car to offer a lidar-based distance detection system.^[643]
  • Blind spot monitor — Introduced by Mitsubishi Motors with their Driver Support System (DSS) in 1998.^[597]
• Automated emergency braking system (AEBS) – AEBS dates back to the 1997 Nissan 240SX.^[644]
• Automatic parking — Toyota's Intelligent Parking Assist System (IPAS) is the first production automatic parking system, developed in 1999 initially for the hybrid Prius and Lexus models. It assists drivers in parking a vehicle.^[645]
• Auxiliary connector — In 1991, the Mitsubishi 3000GT and Galant VR-4 were the first cars with auxiliary inputs for portable devices.^[637]
• Battery electric car — The Mitsubishi Libero EV (1993), co-developed with Tokyo Electric Power Company, was a fully battery-powered commercial electric car.^[597]
  • Lithium-ion battery electric vehicle (BEV) — Nissan Prairie Joy EV (1996) was the first electric vehicle (EV) using lithium-ion battery, developed by Nissan and Sony.^[225]
• Common rail diesel engine — Hino Ranger (1995) truck was the first production vehicle with common rail, using ECD-U2 common rail system developed by Denso.^[646]
• Electric delivery truck — In January 1991, Isuzu developed the first prototype 2-ton electric delivery truck.^[593]
  • Electric SUV — The Toyota RAV4 EV, developed from 1995 to 1997, was the first electric sport utility vehicle (SUV).^[647]
• Electronic gasoline direct injection (GDI) – Introduced by Mitsubishi in 1995.^[597]

Toyota Prius (1997), the first production hybrid electric car, a type of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).

• Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) — The first production HEV was a hybrid electric bus introduced by Hino Motors in 1991.^[648]
  • Hybrid electric car — The first production hybrid car was the Toyota Prius launched in 1997.^[649]
  • Atkinson cycle car engine — The first Atkinson cycle car engine was used in the Toyota Prius (1997).^[650]
  • Parallel hybrid — The Honda Insight (1999) introduced a parallel hybrid system, Integrated Motor Assist (IMA).^[231]
• Lane departure warning system (LDWS) — Introduced by Mitsubishi Motors with their Driver Support System (DSS) in 1998.^[597]
• Rear airbag — The Nissan President Model G50 (1993) introduced the first rear seat SRS airbag system, for the left-hand side (curbside) rear seat passenger.^[225]
• Skyhook suspension — The 1994 Toyota Celsior introduced the first skyhook air suspension.^[596]
• Titanium side-view mirror — In 1997, Nissan developed the first titanium clear outside mirror with super hydrophilicity.^[225]
• Toroidal continuously variable transmission (toroidal CVT) – Introduced in 1999 with Nissan's Extroid CVT for the Nissan Cedric (Y34) and Nissan Gloria.^[651]

Computing

Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 (2005), a personal digital assistant (PDA) smart device.

• Adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) — A fuzzy logic ANN inference system proposed by Hideyuke Takagi and Isao Hayashi in 1991.^[614]
• Contactless smart card (contactless IC card) — Developed by JR East between 1987 and 1992. It was first tested for automated fare collection at Ueno Station in 1992.^[652]
• Electronic patent — In 1990, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) was the first patent office to accept patent applications in the form of electronic documents.^[63]
• Fingerprint scanner — In 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first fingerprint reader PC Card device for laptops and mobile computers.^[653]
• Kanade–Lucas–Tomasi feature tracker (KLT) — The KLT feature tracker is an approach to feature extraction. It was developed by Takeo Kanade and Carlo Tomasi in 1991.^[654]
  • KLT tracker corner detection — Developed by Kanade and Tomasi in 1991.^[655]
  • Tomasi–Kanade factorization — Developed by Kanade and Tomasi in the early 1990s.^[656]
  • Face detection with artificial neural network (ANN) — In 1996, Takeo Kanade, Henry Rowley and Shumeet Baluja developed a face detector using ANN network.^[657]
• Laptop with printer — The Canon NoteJet (1993) was the first laptop notebook computer with built-in inkjet printer.^[216]
• Multi-touch digitizing tablet — In 1992, Wacom released the first commercial digitizing tablet with bi-manual multi-touch and multi-point sensing.^[658]

QR code for the URL of the English Wikipedia mobile main page

• QR code — The QR code, a type of matrix barcode, was invented in 1994 by a Denso Wave research team led by Masahiro Hara.^[9]

• Touchscreen personal digital assistant (PDA) — The Sharp PV-F1 (1992) was the first PDA with a touchscreen interface.^[659]
  • Smart device — The Sharp Zaurus (1993), an early touchscreen PDA with online capability, was considered to be the earliest smart handheld device.^[660]
• Terascale computing (TeraFLOPS) — NEC SX-4 (1994) was the first supercomputer to reach TeraFLOPS (TFLOPS) performance with 1 trillion FLOPS.^[169]

Graphics

Eizo FlexScan L461 (2001), a 16" TFT LCD computer monitor.

• 64-bit GPU — Sega developed the first 64-bit GPU for the Sega Model 1 arcade game system, debuted with Virtua Racing (1992).^[522]
  • T&L GPU — In 1995, Fujitsu developed the first integrated 3D GPU chipset with hardware transform, clipping, and lighting (T&L).^[661]
• AMLCD computer display — Early prototypes were developed by Hosiden (3–10") in 1987, Hitachi (5–10.4") in 1988, and Sharp (6–10") in 1991.^[305]
  • Desktop computer LCD monitor (TFT LCD) — The Eizo FlexScan L23 (13.8"), launched in March 1997, was the first TFT LCD monitor for desktop computers.^[662]
  • Digital Visual Interface (DVI) — Developed between 1998 and 1999 by Digital Display Working Group (DDWG), co‑founded by Fujitsu and NEC.^[663]
• High-dynamic-range rendering (HDR rendering) — In 1990, Hiroshima University researchers presented a lighting model for driving simulators that demonstrated high dynamic range (HDR) processing.^[664]
• JBIG — The JBIG lossless image compression format, introduced in 1991, was developed using patents from Japanese companies Mitsubishi, Canon and KDDI.^[665]
• JPEG arithmetic coding — Patents providing the basis for JPEG's arithmetic coding algorithm include two Mitsubishi patents by Toshihiro Kimura, Shigenori Kino, Fumitaka Ono and Masayuki Yoshida in 1989 and 1990.^[666]
• VR photography — In 1995, Takeo Kanade's team introduced virtualized reality, where a multi-camera setup captures a real‑world scene from different angles to render as a virtual world within a virtual reality.^[667]

Display technology

Sony home cinema, with full HD LCD TV, digital TV set-top box, DVD player, PlayStation 3 and speakers.

• 3D HDTV (3D TV sports broadcasting) — In the 1998 Nagano Olympics, some sporting events were filmed in 3D high definition.^[668]
  • VOD sports broadcasting — The first video-on-demand (VOD) sports coverage appeared for the 1998 Nagano Olympics.^[668]
• Atomic holography — Invented by NEC in 1996.^[200]
• Direct-drive image light amplifier (D-ILA) — In 1997, JVC developed the first D-ILA digital cinema projector with 2K resolution.^[83]
• Flat-panel CRT TV — Sony's KV-28SF5 (1996), which introduced Super Flat Trinitron technology, was the first CRT TV with a flat screen.^[198]
• FLCD projector — By 1992, Matsushita had developed a 4‑megapixel FLCD (FLECD) projector.^[305]

Sega's Time Traveler (1991) was the first holographic 3D video game, using a Dentsu holographic device.

• Autostereoscopic 3D game — In 1997, Sega AM3 presented the Floating Image System, an autostereoscopic 3D display.^[669]
• IPS panel — Katsumi Kondo at Hitachi combined in-plane switching with TFT LCD to develop the first practical IPS panel with wide viewing angle, presented in 1995.^[83]
• Large-screen flat-panel display — In Japan, Giant Technology Corporation (GTC) were developing prototype 40" flat panels (LCD and plasma) between 1989 and 1992.^[305]
• Metal-halide lamp projector — In 1991, Japanese company Iwasaki Electric developed the first metal-halide discharge projection lamp.^[83]
• OLED display (AMOLED) — In 1996, TDK demonstrated the first active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display with Quarter VGA (QVGA) 320×240 resolution.^[83]
  • PMOLED — In 1996, Pioneer produced the first passive matrix OLED (PMOLED) display for car audio systems.^[670]
  • OLED color display — In 1997, Pioneer produced an OLED display with 18-bit color (260,000 colors). In 1998, Sanyo co‑developed the first full-color AMOLED display.^[670]
• UHP lamp projector — Epson's ELP-3500 (1996) was the first commercial LCD projector with ultra-high-performance lamp (UHP lamp).^[83]
  • Telecentric projector — In 1999, telecentric projection lens for LCD projectors were co-developed by Minolta and Nikon.^[83]
• VGA projector — The first VGA projectors were Epson's light valve TFT LCD projector in 1993 and 3LCD projector in 1994.^[83]
• Wall-mount TV — In 1991, Sharp released the first wall-mountable TV, with a color TFT LCD display.^[73]

Digital video

Toshiba SD-2300 DVD player (2000)

• Deep color (30-bit color) — The D-5 (Panasonic) digital videocassette introduced in 1993 was the first component video format supporting 10-bit color per component.^[539]
• Digital video disc (DVD) — In 1994, a Sanyo research team demonstrated a high-density CD-size optical disc storing 2.2 GB digital video content.^[671]
  • DVD player — The Toshiba SD-3000, released in November 1996, was the first DVD player.^[672]
  • DVD recorder — The first DVD recorder was released by Pioneer in 1999.^[372]
• Full HD video recording — Panasonic's D-5 HD (1994) videocassette format was the first HD digital video format to record content in 1920×1080 resolution.^[673]
• MPEG-2 (H.262) — Hiroshi Yasuda led the development of the MPEG-2 (1996) standard.^[674]
• MPEG-4 (H.263) — In 1998, Toshiba developed the first MPEG-4 Visual (MP4) LSI video codec chip, enabling the video compression and video decoding of MP4 video files.^[85]

Electronic games

GiGO, a former large Sega game center in Akihabara, Tokyo.

• Active Time Battle (ATB) — Hiroyuki Ito introduced the ATB system in Final Fantasy IV (1991).^[675]
  • Pausable real-time — The earliest example of pausable real-time combat was ELF Corporation's Knights of Xentar (1991).^[676]
• AAA game — Tengai Makyō II: Manji Maru (1992) for the PC Engine was the first AAA game production on CD-ROM.^[677]
• Battle royale game (BR) — Bomberman (1990) is considered the first battle royale game.^[678]
• Bowlingo — Capcom's Bowlingo (1990) was a coin-operated, electro-mechanical, automated mini ten-pin bowling installation, smaller than a standard bowling alley.^[679]
• Cover button — Namco's Time Crisis (1995) introduced a dedicated cover button, an action foot pedal that could be used to take cover behind in-game objects.^[680]
• Farm life sim — The genre began with the SNES game Harvest Moon (1996).^[681]
• Fast zombie — Originates from 1990s Japanese horror games. Resident Evil (1996) featured zombie dogs that run towards the player. The House of the Dead (1996) introduced running human zombies who run towards the player, jump and swim.^[682]
  • Zombie dog — Resident Evil (1996) was the first video game with zombie dogs, popularizing the concept in mass media.^[682]
• Indoor theme park (urban entertainment center) — Namco Wonder Eggs in Tokyo, opened in February 1992, was the first urban theme park.^[159]
• Microtransaction — Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (1990) arcade game introduced shops where coins purchase upgrades, power-ups, health, weapons, moves and characters.^[683]
• Platform fighter — The Outfoxies (1994) by Namco originated the concept of platform fighters. The subgenre was later defined by Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. (1999).^[684]
• Quick time event cutscene (QTE) — Sega's Die Hard Arcade (1996) introduced QTEs in the modern form of cutscene interludes in an otherwise interactive game.^[685]
• Super combo — Introduced by SNK's Art of Fighting (1992).^[686]
• Triple jump (game mechanic) — First appeared in Exact's Geograph Seal (1994) for the Sharp X68000.^[687]
• Zombie virus — Resident Evil (1996) gave realistic scientific explanations for zombie origins, such as biological weaponry, genetic manipulation, and parasitic symbiosis. This became the standard approach for explaining zombie origins.^[688]

Consoles

See also: Video game console

Sega Dreamcast (1998), the first console with built-in modem and voice chat in online gaming.

• 32-bit console — Fujitsu's FM Towns Marty (1993) was the first video game console with a 32-bit CPU.^[689]
  • 64-bit game console — The Nintendo 64 (1996) was the first game console with a 64‑bit CPU.^[522]
  • 128-bit game console — Sega's Dreamcast (1996) was the first game console a 128‑bit vector processor.^[522]
• Dual-ported video RAM (DP VRAM) — The Sega Mega Drive (1988) was the first console to use DP VRAM.^[690]
  • Geometry processor — The Sega Saturn (1994) was the first console with a 3D geometry processor.^[691]
• Hybrid console — The Sega Nomad (1995) was the first hybrid console.^[692]
• Downloadable content (DLC) — On Sega Meganet (1990), Phantasy Star II featured eight Phantasy Star II Adventures for download, the earliest example of DLC.^[693]
  • Built-in modem — Sega's Dreamcast, launched in 1998, was the first console with a built-in modem.^[694]
  • Voice chat in online gaming — Began with the Dreamcast in 1999. Games such as Seaman (1999) and Alien Front Online (2001) included built-in voice chat functionality via the SegaNet online service.^[695]
• Memory card save file — SNK's Neo Geo (1990) was the first game console to feature a removable memory card for saves.^[696]
  • Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) — The first high-profile commercial use of FRAM was by Sega, who used FRAM chips to store saves in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) cartridges.^[697]
• Touchscreen handheld console — In the early 1990s, Sega announced a Game Gear successor with a touchscreen interface.^[698]
• Virtual reality headset (VR) — The Sega VR headset was an early unreleased VR device with built-in motion tracking, first announced in 1991. Its sensors tracked the player's movement and head position.^[699]

Controllers

Nintendo 64 controller, debuted in 1995 and released 1996, popularized analog thumbstick control.

• Analog thumbstick — First was Dempa's XE-1 AP (1989) controller for Sega Mega Drive and Japanese computers. Popularized by Nintendo 64 controller (1995).^[700]

• Dual analog control — Sony's Dual Analog and DualShock controllers in 1997 introduced two analog sticks, for which Sony won an Emmy Award in 2007.^[701]
• Guitar controller — Invented by Konami's Bemani division in 1998 for the arcade game GuitarFreaks.^[702]
  • Drum kit peripheral — Konami invented a drum kit peripheral for DrumMania (1999).^[702]
• Gyroscopic motion simulator — Sega's R360 cabinet with G-LOC: Air Battle (1990) introduced gyroscope technology for the first 360-degree motion simulator experience.^[703]
• Hands-free head-mounted display with head tracking and voice command — First was Konami's LaserScope (1990) for NES. It supported NES Zapper gun games.^[704]
• Laser sight — Konami's LaserScope (1990) for the NES was the first game controller to use laser sight technology.^[705]
• Musical instrument peripheral — In the late 1990s, Konami's Bemani division invented the first rhythm game peripherals simulating musical instruments.^[702]

Graphics

Cel shader, also known as toon shader.

• 3D character physics — Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter (1993) introduced a 3D physics engine for the game's human 3D polygon player characters.^[706]

• 3D texture mapping — SimDrive (SimRoad) for the arcade Namco System 22, with a limited 1992 release, introduced 3D texture mapping.^[707]
  • Texture filtering — The Sega Model 2 arcade system introduced the use of 3D texture filtering with Daytona USA (1993).^[698]
  • Texture-mapped characters — Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 2 (1994) introduced texture‑mapped 3D player characters.^[708]
• Camera change button — Introduced in 1991 by MNM Software's Japan-exclusive Sharp X68000 games Magical Shot and Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star.^[709]
  • Free-floating camera — Nintendo EAD's Super Mario 64 (1996) introduced a free-floating camera that can be controlled independently of the character.^[710]
• Gouraud shading — SimDrive (1992) for the Namco System 22 introduced Gouraud shading.^[711]
  • Cel shading (toon shading) — First appeared in Riverhillsoft's video game Doctor Hauzer (1994).^[712]
  • Phong shading — The Sega Hikaru arcade system introduced Phong shading, with the system's debut title Brave Firefighters (1999). Space Channel 5 (1999) for the Sega Dreamcast was the first home console game with limited Phong shading.^[713]
  • Cel shader (toon shader) — Sega Dreamcast game Jet Set Radio, first demonstrated in 1999, introduced a real-time cel shader.^[714]
• Invisible wall — Invented by Konami and patented in 1996.^[715]
• Passive-optical motion capture — Namco's arcade fighting game Soul Edge (1995) was the first video game to use passive optical motion-capture technology.^[716]

Microtechnology

Blue LEDs.

USB-C connector, a type of USB connector.

• Blue laser (blue LED) — Invented by Shuji Nakamura, Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano between 1986 and 1992, winning the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics.^[107]
• Compressed instruction set — Originally developed by Hitachi for their SuperH (1992) central processing unit (CPU) microprocessor.^[717]
  • 128-bit vector processor — The Hitachi SH-4 (1997) microprocessor introduced a floating-point unit (FPU) with 128-bit vector registers.^[718]
• Integrated gate-commutated thyristor (IGCT) — Co-developed by Mitsubishi in the 1990s.^[543]
• Microthermoforming — Dates back to the work of Kyushu Institute of Technology researchers Koji Ikuta and K. Hirowatari in 1993.^[719]
  • Projection micro-stereolithography (PμSL) — The microstereolithography method developed by Koji Ikuta and K. Hirowatari in 1993 is the basis for PμSL.^[720]
  • Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) — Developed by Hideo Hosono in the 1990s.^[245]
• Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) — Discovered by Sumio Iijima of NEC in 1991.^[721]
• Nanoelectronics
  • Nanoscale transistor — In 1993, a Toshiba research team developed the first NMOS logic transistor with 40 nm gate length and 10 nm drain junction.^[722]
  • Biochip — In 1995, Mitsubishi and Suntory invented a biological memory chip, using 2.5 nm biological protein molecule diodes with high memory density.^[200]
  • Carbon nanotube field-emission display (CNT FED) — First demonstrated by Yahachi Saito, Sashiro Uemura and Koji Hamaguchi in 1998.^[723]
• Surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) — SED display technology was developed by Canon between 1986 and 1997.^[83]
• White LED (RGB LED) — Developed in 1995 by Yoshinori Shimizu and Yasunobu Noguchi at Nichia by combining blue LED with YAG:Ce phosphors.^[409]
• White organic LED (white OLED) — Pioneered by J. Kido's team at Yamagata University in 1995. It led to the commercialization of OLED displays.^[724]
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) — The USB standard was co-developed by NEC between 1995 and 1996.^[725]

Memory

Toshiba SD cards, which are memory cards using flash memory.

• Charge trap flash (CTF) — In 1991, NEC's research team including N. Kodama, K. Oyama and Hiroki Shirai developed flash memory incorporating a charge trap method.^[726]
  • Quad-level cell (QLC) — In early 1996, NEC researchers led by M. Ohkawa introduced a 3D IC flash memory chip with QLC memory cells.^[727]
  • SD card — The Secure Digital (SD) memory card format was developed in 1999 by Panasonic (then known as Matsushita), Kioxia (then part of Toshiba) and SanDisk.^[728]
• Digital versatile disc (DVD) — The DVD (1995) format was co-developed by the Japanese companies Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic with the Dutch company Philips.^[163]
  • DVD recordable (DVD-R) — Pioneer released the first DVD-R drive in 1997.^[372]
  • Blue laser disc (Blu-ray) — After Shuji Nakamura's invention of practical blue laser diodes, Isao Ichimura's Sony research team in 1999 demonstrated a prototype Blu-ray Disc recordable (BD-R) disc with over 20 GB storage.^[729]
• Laptop hard drive — The Toshiba T3100 (1986) was the first laptop computer with built-in hard disk drive (HDD).^[169]
  • Glass substrate — The Toshiba MK1122FC (1990) HDD featured the first hard disk drive platter with a glass substrate.^[169]
  • Giant magnetoresistance disk read-and-write head (GMR head) — In 1997, Toshiba released the first practical HDD equipped with a GMR head.^[85]
• Minidisc — In 1992, Sony introduced the MiniDisc (MD), a music recording and playback format intended to replace audio cassettes.^[730]
  • Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) — Sony's recordable MiniDisc (1992) used HAMR recording, but the discs were read optically via the Kerr effect.^[730]
• Synchronous graphics RAM (SGRAM) — Hitachi's 8 Mbit (1 MB) HM5283206 graphics memory chip, introduced in November 1994, was the first SGRAM chip.^[731]
  • Double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM) — In February 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first double data rate (DDR) synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) chip, with a capacity of 256 Mbit (16 MB).^[732]
  • Spin-transfer torque (STT) — In 1997, E. Maiken of Sony filed the first patent for STT RAM.^[733]
• Terabyte mass storage (TB) — The Fujitsu GR720 (1999) was the first disk array unit exceeding 1 TB storage capacity using RAID-5 technology. The GR72G02 model supports up to 4.672 TB storage.^[169]

Sciences

A man wearing a Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) robotic suit in 2005.

• Amari distance — It is named after Japanese information theorist Shun'ichi Amari and was originally introduced as a performance index for blind source separation in 1995.^[734]
• Autophagy — Yoshinori Ohsumi discovered the mechanisms of autophagy in the early 1990s. He won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[245]
• Cancer therapy with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) — Discovered by Tasuku Honjo in 1992.^[107]
• Chromosome assembly — Discovered by Riken senior researcher Tatsuya Hirano in 1993.^[245]
  • Condensin — Discovered by Tatsuya Hirano in 1997.^[245]
• Flat screen medical monitor — By 1991, JVC had developed a medical LCD monitor. In 2000, they introduced a flat-screen medical CRT monitor.^[154]
• MOV attack — Developed by Tatsuaki Okamoto in 1993.^[245]
  • Okamoto–Uchiyama cryptosystem — Developed by Tatsuaki Okamoto and Shigenori Uchiyama in 1998.^[245]
  • Efficient Probabilistic Public-Key Encryption Scheme (EPOC) — Developed by Tatsuaki Okamoto in 1999.^[245]
• Orexin — Discovered by Masashi Yanagisawa in 1998.^[245]
• Plasma gasification commercialization — In 1999, a 166-short-ton (151 t) per day pilot plant was built in Yoshii, co-developed by Hitachi Metals.^[735]
• Regulatory T cell — Discovered by Shimon Sakaguchi in 1995.^[245]
• Robotic exoskeleton for motion support — The first Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) prototype, created in 1997, was proposed by Tsukuba University professor Yoshiyuki Sankai.^[736]
• Super-Kamiokande
  • Neutrino oscillation (neutrino mass) — Discovered by Takaaki Kajita in 1998, for which he was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.^[107]
  • K2K experiment
• Video bronchoscope — In 1994, Pentax researchers developed video broncoscopes with a CCD sensor video chip located at their distal end.^[737]

Technology

Mitsubishi Jet Towel hand dryer.

• Advanced Photo System (APS) — Film format introduced in April 1996, co-developed by Fujifilm, Nikon, Minolta, Canon and Kodak.^[266]
  • Digital minilab — Fujifilm's Frontier (1996) was the first digital minilab.^[405]
  • Color instant-print camera — The Fujifilm FinePix PR21 (1999) was the first digital camera with built-in color printer.^[496]
• All-in-one printer (AIO) — The Inkjet All-in-One MFC-7000FC (1997) by Brother Industries was the first color inkjet AIO printer.^[351]
• Cells Alive System (CAS) — Refrigeration technology developed by Norio Owada of Abi from 1992 to 1998.^[408]
• Chindōgu — The Japanese art of inventing ingenious gadgets that appear to be useful, but may cause more problems than they solve. Coined by Kenji Kawakami in early 1990s.
• Demining robot — Invented by Shigeo Hirose in 1997.^[410]
• Electronic waste recycling plant — In 1999, Mitsubishi opened the Higashihama Recycling Center, the first recycling plant for the household appliance industry.^[259]
• Energy-saving air conditioner — In 1994, Mitsubishi released the first energy-saving household AC.^[259]
• Fuzzy logic copier — The Canon NP9800 (1990) was the first high-speed photocopier incorporating fuzzy logic.^[216]

• Jet Towel hand dryer (airblade) — Introduced by Mitsubishi in 1993. It blows jets of air on both sides, pushing water off the hands.^[738]
• Microwave oven smart device — Sharp RE-M210 (1999) was the first Internet‑capable smart microwave oven. Users could download recipes and instructions.^[739]
• Vacuum insulated glazing (VIG) — SPACIA (1997) by NSG was the first vacuum glazing technology.^[558]

Audio

Roland JP-8000 (1996) analog modeling synthesizer introduced the supersaw waveform sound.

• 1-bit DAC — The Sony D-303 (1991) was the first portable CD player to use a 1-bit digital-to-analog converter (1-bit DAC).^[456]
• 24-bit audio — Panasonic's D-5 HD (1994) digital video format supported 24-bit digital audio bit depth and 48 kHz sample rate.^[740]
• Bit Rate Reduction (BRR) — Audio compression format based on ADPCM, introduced with Sony SPC700 sound chip in the Super NES (1990) game console.^[741]
• CDJ — Pioneer DJ's CDJ-500 (1994) was the first commercial DJ CD player.^[742]
• Compact pedal tuner — The Boss TU-2 (1998) was the first compact pedal tuner.^[462]
• Digital audio workstation with MIDI timecode (MTC) — Korg's Soundlink (1990) was the first DAW with MTC synchronisation.^[312]
• General MIDI — Standardized in 1991 by the Japan MIDI Standards Committee (JMSC) and MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA).^[743]
• Megahertz sample rate (MHz) — In 1999, the Direct Stream Digital (DSD) format by Sony and Philips introduced delta-sigma modulation with 1-bit audio and 2.8 MHz sample rate, developed for the Super Audio CD (SACD) format.^[451]
• Mesh drumhead — The Roland V-Drums (1997) was the first drum kit with mesh drum pads.^[744]
• Human voice synthesis — Early speech synthesis systems typically produced a low-quality robotic voice. In 1998, Toshiba introduced the first speech synthesis system that produced a high-quality human voice.^[85]
• Physical modelling synthesis — The Yamaha VL‑1 (1994) was the first commercial physical modelling synthesizer.^[745]

Supersaw waveform pattern from the Roland JP-8000, demonstrating its typical usage in trance music.

• Supersaw — A waveform created by Roland for the Roland JP-8000 (1996) analog modeling synthesizer. It is commonly used in trance music.^[746]
• Touchscreen digital audio workstation — In 1995, the Korg OASYS and Korg Trinity were the first DAWs with touch-sensitive screen.^[312]
• USB audio interface — Roland's UA-100 USB Audio Interface (1998) was the first USB audio interface, allowing recording and playback of high-fidelity digital audio with a personal computer.^[310]

Cameras

Sony A7RIII CMOS sensor.

• CMOS sensor — Mitsubishi Electric developed the first CMOS APS sensor in 1992.^[259]

Sony DCR-VX1000 (1995), a 3CCD digital video camera.

• 3CCD video camera — In 1992, Sony released the first HD video camera using three CCD sensors.^[206]
  • HD video camcorder — The Sony HDW-700 (1997) was the first HD camcorder supporting the HDCAM video format.^[198]
• Digital 3D stereo camera — The Minolta Dimâge 3D 1500 (1999) was the first stereoscopic 3D digital camera.^[496]
• Digital camera optical zoom — Fujifilm's Fujix DS-100 (1991) was the first digital camera with 3× optical zoom.^[496]
• Digital infrared camera — Sony's DSC-F1 (1996) was the first digital camera with a built-in infrared transceiver.^[496]
• Digital movie camera — Sony's Solid State Electronic Cinematography video camera was used to shoot the first digital film, Rainbow (1996).^[747]
• Digital TV camera — Casio's prototype RS-20 camera, developed between 1992 and 1993, was the first digital camera with a built-in TV tuner.^[497]
• Digital video camera flash memory — The Ricoh RDC-1 (1995) was the first digital camera capable of video recording on a flash memory card.^[496]
• Electronic image stabilization (EIS) — Panasonic invented EIS for the Brenby NV-S1 (1990) compact video camera.^[493]
• Eye-controlled focusing (ECF) — The Canon EOS 5 (1992) was the first single-lens reflex (SLR) AF camera with eye tracking AF control.^[216]
• HAD CCD — The Sony DSC-F505 (1999) digital camera introduced a 2.1 megapixel Super HAD CCD sensor.^[748]
  • Super CCD (SCCD) — CCD sensor design developed by Fujifilm in 1999.^[749]
• JPEG digital camera — In the early 1990s, Canon developed a prototype digital camera supporting JPEG image compression and decompression.^[497]
  • JPEG DSLR — The Nikon D1 (1999) was the first DSLR to natively shoot JPEG images.^[750]
• Lithium-ion battery video camera — The Sony CCD-TR1 (1990) 8 mm video format camcorder was the first commercial product to use a lithium-ion battery.^[751]
• Live preview — The first digital camera with LCD live preview was the Canon QV-10 (1994).^[752]
  • Front-facing camera (digital selfie) — The Canon QV-10 (1994) introduced a digital selfie function, allowing the swivel lens to be pointed at the user with LCD live preview.^[752]
• MPEG video camera — Hitachi MP-EG1 (1996) digital camera supports MPEG-1. Sharp Corp's VN-EZ1 Internet ViewCam (1999) supports MPEG-4.^[496]
• Purikura (print club) — Conceived in 1994 by Sasaki Miho for Atlus, which released the first purikira arcade game machine with Sega as Print Club (1995).^[9]
  • Beauty filter — Originates from the arcade game Print Club (1995) by Atlus and Sega.^[753]
• Swivel lens — The Canon QV-10 (1994) introduced a rotating lens.^[752]
• Touchscreen digital camera — The Nikon Coolpix 300 (1996) was the first digital camera with a touchscreen.^[496]
• Vibration reduction (VR) — The Nikon Zoom 700VR (1994) was the first camera featuring optical vibration reduction.^[165]

Energy technology

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant and the first with ABWR.

• Advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) — Developed by Hitachi, Toshiba and GE Hitachi. In 1996, the first ABWR entered commercial operation in Japan.^[85]
• Application-specific intelligent power module (ASIPM) — Yaskawa's VS mini-C (1994) was the first AC drive with ASIPM.^[258]
• Blue LED lighting — Invented by Shuji Nakamura and commercialized by Nichia in 1994.^[754]
  • White LED lighting — In 1995, Yoshinori Shimizu's team at Nichia developed white LED lighting by combining blue LED with phosphors.^[409]
  • LED backlight — In 1996, Yoshinori Shimizu developed white LED backlighting for a color display.^[409]
• LED traffic light — In 1994, Nichia first commercialized blue LED technology for traffic lights in Nagoya and Tokushima.^[378]
• Lithium-ion automotive battery (electric vehicle battery) — Sony and Nissan developed the first LIB car battery circa 1992–1996.^[225]
• Lithium polymer battery — Sony began research on lithium-ion cells with gelled polymer electrolytes (GPE) in 1988 and commercialized this type of battery in 1998.^[755]
• Micro Piezo — In 1993, Epson's Stylus 800 inkjet printer and MJ-500 ink cartridge introduced Micro Piezo technology using piezoelectric crystals.^[255]
• Self-powered automatic faucet — The INAX Automage (1990) was the first automatic faucet with a self-powered energy harvesting system.^[276]
• Sine wave inverter — In 1998, Honda's EU9i, EU24i and EU28is portable generators introduced the first microprocessor-controlled sine wave invertors.^[230]
• Solar powered camera — Canon's Sure Shot Del Sol (1995) point-and-shoot camera was the first fully solar-powered camera.^[216]
• Solar ventilation — The Mazda Sentia (Mazda 929) car, released in 1991, introduced a solar ventilation system using solar cells in the sunroof.^[228]

Telecommunication

A Japanese taxi equipped with GPS navigation (2004).

Futaba Channel (2chan), a Japanese imageboard that inspired popular English site 4chan.

• Karaoke streaming — Karaoke Joysound (1992) was the first karaoke ISDN network. Brother's JS‑1X (1993) was the first centralized karaoke network control system.^[351]
• Satellite navigation (satnav)
  • GPS navigation — The Pioneer AVIC-1 (1990) was the first GPS car satnav system.^[372] Mazda Eunos Cosmo (1990) was the first car with GPS satnav system.^[228]
  • Voice assisted GPS navigation — In 1992, the world's first voice assisted GPS navigation system was introduced for the Toyota Celsior.^[596]
  • Satnav panoramic view — 3D over-the-shoulder panorama view was introduced by Nissan's BirdView (1995). It used a 32-bit CPU and Nissan image processor.^[225]
  • Differential GPS (DGPS) — In 1997, a navigation system using differential GPS was developed as a factory-installed option on the Toyota Prius.^[596]
  • GPS watch — The Casio Pro Trek PRT-1GPJ (1999) was the first watch with built-in GPS navigation.^[365]
• Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) — Originates from Toshiba's Cell Switch Router (CSR) technology in 1994.^[756]
• Online magazine — The first online magazine was Internet Magazine launched by Japanese company Impress in September 1994.^[757]
• Terabit per second (Tbit/s) — In 1996, Fujitsu demonstrated the first 1 Tbit/s fibre‑optic transmission over 150 km, using zero-dispersion and wideband EDFA.^[758]
• Textboard — Textboards were invented in 1990s Japan.^[759]
  • Imageboard — The first imageboards were created in 1990s Japan. Later imageboards such as Futaba Channel (2chan) would be created.^[759]
• Wireless image sharing (mobile image sharing) — The Ricoh RDC-2S (1996) was the first digital camera with wireless image sharing, using the PHS mobile network.^[496]
• World radio watch (multi-band device) — The Citizen Watch Radio-Controlled Watch (1993) was the first radio-controlled clock (RCC) supporting multiple time zones.^[414]

Mobile phones

See also: Japanese mobile phone culture and Mobile phone industry in Japan

NEC TZ-804 Mova N (1991), the first mobile flip phone with clamshell design.

• Flip phone — The NEC TZ-804 (Mova N), launched in 1991, was the first mobile phone with a clamshell design.^[270]
• Lithium-ion battery cell phone — In 1991, Sony lithium-ion rechargeable batteries were first used in mobile phones.^[760]
• Mobile broadband (3G) — Between 1997 and 1998, NTT DoCoMo demonstrated the first 3G W-CDMA broadband FOMA network with up to 2 Mbit/s data signaling rate.^[761]
  • Mobile phone tracking — In the 1990s, Seizo Onoe developed the 3G rapid cell search algorithm, where mobile devices quickly identify the nearest base station.^[424]
  • Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) — Developed by Sony for 3G networks in the 1990s.^[424]
  • Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) — NTT DoCoMo developed wideband code-division multiple access (W‑CDMA) circa 1996–1997 for 3G.^[761]

Kyocera VP-210 Visual Phone (1999), the first mobile camera phone with front-facing selfie camera.

• Mobile camera phone — The Kyocera VP-210 Visual Phone, released in May 1999, was the first commercial mobile camera phone.^[498]
  • Front-facing camera phone (selfie phone) — The Kyocera VP-210 Visual Phone (1999) was the first camera phone with a front-facing selfie camera.^[498]
  • Mobile videophone — The Kyocera VP-210 (1999) was the first mobile videophone, which also doubled as a camera phone for still photos.^[762]
• Mobile Internet — Toshiba's T24D/X (1990) cellular modem enabled laptop computers to connect with a mobile phone and use wireless Internet via mobile network.^[763]
  • Mobile computer cell phone — NEC's UltraLite Cellular Workstation (1991) was the first laptop computer with an integrated mobile phone.^[763]
• Pocket cell phone — The NEC P3 (1990) was the first truly portable pocket-sized cellular mobile phone.^[764]
• Mobile phone charm — The earliest mobile phone charms were Hello Kitty charms introduced in Japan during the mid-1990s.^[765]
• Mobile web — NTT DoCoMo's i-mode (1999) was the first commercial Internet access web service dedicated to mobile phones.^[219]
  • C-HTML — A type of HTML format introduced with i-mode (1999).^[766]
  • Face with Tears of Joy emoji — NTT DoCoMo's emoji set in 1999 introduced the Face with Tears of Joy emoji.^[767]
  • Mobile app store — i-mode (1999) featured the first integrated online mobile app store, gaining nationwide popularity in Japanese mobile phone culture.^[768]
  • Online mobile app — Bandai's Dokodemo Aso Vegas service, launched in March 1999, was the first online mobile app content for the i‑mode service.^[159]
• Ringtone — In September 1996, IDO sold Denso's Digital Minimo D319, the first mobile phone where a user could input an original melody.^[769]
  • Polyphonic ringtone — Dates back to 1999, when the Yamaha MA-1 sound chip was introduced for phones with four FM synthesis channels.^[770]
• Smartphone — The earliest smartphones with handheld PC and online features in the 1990s include the Sharp Zaurus, Toshiba Genio, Kyocera DataScope and Matsushita Pinocchio.^[660]

Transportation

Hino S'elega hybrid electric bus in Nagoya.

• Coaxial rotary tiller — Honda's Lucky FU650, launched in 1993, was the first rotary tiller with coaxial rotating tines.^[231]
• Electronically controlled anti-lock brakes (ABS) — The Honda ST1100 (1992) was the first motorcycle with electronically controlled ABS.^[230]
  • Traction control system (TCS) — The Honda ST1100 (1992) was the first motorcycle with TCS.^[230]
• HD video space camera — NHK and Sony developed the first HD video camcorder used on a spacecraft, the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.^[771]
• Hybrid electric bus — Introduced by Hino Motors in 1991 as an urban transit bus.^[648]
  • Hybrid electric tour bus — Introduced by Hino Motors in 1997.^[772]
• Spacecraft color printer — In 1998, the Epson Stylus Color 800 was the first color printer in space, launched on board the Space Shuttle Discovery.^[256]
• Space photography digital camera — Nikon NASA F4 (1987) was the first digital camera for space photography, used on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1991.^[165]

2000s

See also: 2000s in Japan

Arts

JVC D-ILA projector.

• 4K resolution digital cinema — In 2000, JVC introduced the first D-ILA (direct-drive ILA) 4K digital cinema projector.^[83]
• Anime web series — The earliest anime web series was the ONA series Infinite Ryvius: Illusion (2000).^[773]
  • Postcyberpunk animation — The first postcyberpunk animated work was anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002). It has been called "the most interesting, sustained postcyberpunk media work in existence".^[774]
• Bullet time instant replay — Takeo Kanade developed a multi-camera instant replay system that produced a bullet time effect during replays for the Super Bowl 2001 sports event.^[775]
• Cell phone novel — The first cell phone novel was Deep Love (2002).^[776]
• Galápagos syndrome — Identified in Japan during the 2000s.^[777]
• Photorealistic computer-animated film — Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) by Hironobu Sakaguchi was the first feature film with photorealistic CGI animation.^[778]
  • Motion capture animated feature film — Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (developed late 1990s to 2001) was produced entirely with motion capture.^[779]
• Superflat — A postmodern art form, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime.^[780]

Automobiles

Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE (2006), the first hydrogen vehicle with rotary engine.

• Diesel boxer engine — In early 2007, the Subaru EE engine was the first passenger car diesel boxer engine. This engine is a turbocharged boxer-four with common rail fuel injection.^[781]
• Rotary engine hydrogen vehicle — The Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE (2006) was the first hydrogen vehicle with a rotary engine.^[228]
• Self-repair car paint — In 2005, Nissan introduced Scratch Guard Coat, the first clear exterior paint that can self-repair scratches.^[225]
  • Hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon (hydrogen-free DLC) — In 2006, Nissan introduced the first hydrogen-free DLC coating.^[225]
• Twin Clutch SST (sport shift transmission) — A type of dual-clutch AMT developed by Mitsubishi Motors and introduced in 2007.^[597]

Electric vehicles

Mitsubishi i-MiEV (2009), the first electric car with DC fast charging.

• BAS hybrid — In June 2001, Toyota introduced a BAS (belted alternator starter) hybrid system under the Toyota Hybrid System-Mild (THS-M) brand name.^[782]
  • Mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) — Introduced with the Toyota Hybrid System‑Mild (THS-M) in the Toyota Crown Royal Saloon (2001).^[596]
• DC fast charging — The Mitsubishi i-MiEV (2009) was the first electric car with DC fast charging capability.^[783]
• Electric kei car — The Mitsubishi i-MiEV (2009) was the first electric kei car.^[784]
• Hybrid electric truck — The Toyota Dyna Hybrid (2003) was the first hybrid truck.^[596]
  • Hybrid SUV — Toyota's Lexus RX 400h (2004) was the first luxury hybrid electric SUV.^[785]
  • Hybrid electric sedan — Toyota's Lexus GS 450h (2006) was the first high-performance luxury hybrid sedan.^[785]
• Zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) — The Nissan Leaf (2009) was the world's first ZEV.^[786]

Electronic systems

Driver monitoring system (DMS) on Toyota's Lexus LS 600h (2006)

• 42-volt electrical system (42V) — In 2001, the Toyota Crown Royal Saloon was the first production vehicle with 42V electrical system.^[787]
• 4WS active steering — The Nissan Skyline (V36), released in 2006, introduced the first four-wheel active steering system.^[225]
• Active automotive night vision — Toyota's Night View (2002) was the first active automotive night vision system.^[788]
  • Pedestrian detection — In 2004, the Honda Legend introduced Intelligent Night Vision, the first system with pedestrian detection.^[231]
• Active noise cancellation (ANC) — In 2004, the Honda Acura RL was the first car with active noise cancellation.^[637]
• Brake-by-wire – Electronically controlled brake (ECB) system, developed by Toyota initially for its hybrid and Lexus models and introduced in June 2001, is the first production brake-by-wire braking system.^[789]
• Lane keeping assist (LKA) — The Nissan Cima Model F50 (2001) introduced the first lane keeping assistance system.^[225]
• Pre-collision system (PCS) — In February 2003, Toyota launched PCS using millimeter wave radar for the Toyota Harrier.^[596]
  • Driver monitoring system (DMS) — Introduced by Toyota in 2006 for Lexus models, offered on the GS 450h. System functions co-operate with the PCS system.^[790]
  • Eye tracking driver monitoring system — In 2008, the Toyota Crown's Driver Monitoring System (DMS) was the first driver eyelid monitoring system.^[791]
• Seat cushion airbag — The Nissan Skyline V35 (2001) introduced the first active seat cushion, which works in tandem with the seat belt and SRS airbag.^[225]
  • Dual-chamber airbag — Toyota's 2005 Lexus IS was the first car with a twin-chamber front passenger airbag.^[785]
  • Rear curtain airbag — In 2008, the Toyota iQ microcar featured the first production rear-curtain shield airbag to protect the rear occupants' heads in the event of a rear-end impact.^[596]
  • Center airbag — In 2009, Toyota developed the first production rear-seat center airbag designed to reduce the severity of secondary injuries to rear passengers in a side collision. This system first appeared on the Toyota Crown Majesta.^[596]
• Smart camera — Nissan's Rear View Monitor the Infiniti Q45 (2000) was a smart rear-view camera projecting on‑screen parking guidelines onto the navigation screen.^[792]
  • Surround-view system — Introduced in January 2007 with the Mitsubishi Delica's Multi-Around Monitor system.^[793]
• Synchronized down shift rev-matching system (SynchroRev Match) — Invented by Nissan in 2008 for use on the Nissan 370Z and Fairlady Z.^[794]
• Turbo gasoline direct injection (turbo GDI) — The first turbocharged GDI engine was used in the Mitsubishi Pajero iO 4G93 (2000).^[795]

Display technology

Sony XEL-1 (2007), the world's first OLED TV.

• 3D stereoscopic mobile phone — The Mova SH251iS (2002) by Sharp and NTT DoCoMo was the first mobile phone with a stereoscopic 3D display.^[796]
  • Autostereoscopic 3D phone — In January 2009, Hitachi introduced the first autostereoscopic 3D phone under KDDI, the Hitachi H001.^[797]
• Blu-ray player — The Sony BDZ-S77 (2003) was the first Blu-ray Disc (BD) recorder with broadcasting satellite (BS) digital tuner.^[198]
• Context-adaptive variable-length coding (CAVLC) — Video coding algorithm developed in 2003 by Sadātsu Kato's NTT DoCoMo research team.^[798]
  • H.264 (AVC) — NTT DoCoMo's CAVLC coding algorithm was adopted by the Advanced Video Coding (AVC) H.264 standard in 2003.^[798]
• Electronic wallpaper — At the FPD 2008 exhibition, Japanese company Soken demonstrated a wall with electronic wallpaper.^[799]
• High-resolution OLED display — In 2001, Sony developed a 13" color OLED display with SVGA 800×600 resolution.^[670]
  • Polymer OLED display (PLED) — In 2001, Toshiba developed the first 18-bit color (260,000 colors) PLED display.^[670]
  • PHOLED display — In 2003, Tohoku Pioneer was the first to use phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) material in a commercial OLED display.^[670]
  • OLED large-screen display — In 2004, Seiko Epson developed the first 40" color OLED display.^[670]
  • Flexible OLED display (FOLED) — In 2005, Sony and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) developed a prototype FOLED rollable display.^[800]
• Laser TV — In early 2006, Mitsubishi demonstrated the first commercial laser TV.^[801]
• LED-backlit pocket projector — In 2005, the first LED-illuminated digital light processing (DLP) pocket projector was released by Mitsubishi, Toshiba and Samsung.^[83]
• Metal–insulator–metal field-emission display (MIM FED) — In 2000, Hitachi developed the first field-emission display (FED) with MIM field emitter.^[83]
  • Ballistic electron surface-emitting display (BSD) — A type of FED developed by Matsushita in 2001.^[83]
• OLED TV — The Sony XEL-1 (2007) was the first OLED TV.^[198]
• See-through display — In 2000, Denso co-developed a transparent EL display (ELD).^[83]
• VC-1 — Japanese companies that contributed patents towards VC-1 (2006) video coding format include Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Sony, JVC Kenwood, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Sharp and NTT.^[802]

High-definition

HDMI connector.

• High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) — In 2002, HDMI was co-developed by Hitachi, Panasonic, Maxell, Sony and Toshiba.^[803]
• High-dynamic-range television (HDR TV)
  • Deep color (39-bit color) — In 2007, Oki demonstrated the first LCD display driver supporting 13-bit color per component.^[304]
• LED-backlit LCD — The Sony Qualia 005 (2004) was the first LED-backlit LCD television.^[198]
  • HD video combo television unit — The Sharp Aquos LC-52X1 (2008) LCD TV was the first TV set with a built-in Blu-ray HD video recorder.^[73]
• Motion interpolation — Introduced as Film Smooth Motion Mode on the Pioneer Kuro (2007) plasma HDTV, using frame interpolation to convert 24 fps film to 60 fps.^[804]
• Ultra HDTV (UHDTV) — NHK, JVC and Ikegami Tsushinki circa 1995–2003 developed a prototype 8K Super Hi-Vision UHDTV system, demonstrated in 2003 with 8K video camera, video disc recorder and video projector.^[805]
• Upscaler TV set — The Toshiba Regza ZH7000 (2008) LCD TV was the first upscaling TV, capable of upscaling standard definition (SD) content to full HD using super-resolution imaging (SR).^[85]

Sciences

Central drift tracking chamber from the Belle experiment.

• Asymmetric hydrogenation (chirally catalyzed hydrogenation) — Discovered by Ryoji Noyori in 1968, for which he was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.^[107]
  • Green fluorescent protein (GFP) — Discovered by Osamu Shimomura in the 1960s, for which he was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.^[107]
  • Conductive polymer — Discovered by Hideki Shirakawa between 1976 and 1977, for which he was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.^[107]
• Direct CP violation (Belle experiment) — Between 1999 and 2001, the Belle experiment at KEK observed direct CP violation in decays of B mesons.^[806]
• Endless hot rolling — First developed in 2000 by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, Kawasaki Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI Corporation.^[807]
• Friction analysis of galvannealed sheet steel — First conducted In 2003 by Sumitomo Metal Industries and Toyota researchers using Dr. STAMP technology.^[808]
• High-temperature superconductors (HTS) — Jun Akimitsu discovered new HTS including magnesium diboride.^[245]
  • Iron-based superconductor (FeSC) — Discovered by Tokyo Institute of Technology team under Hideo Hosono.^[584]
• Nihonium (element 113) — Named after Nihon, the local name for Japan. It was discovered by a Japanese team under Kōsuke Morita in 2003.^[245]
• Quantum telecloning — In early 2006, quantum telecloning was first demonstrated by researchers from Tokyo University, Japan Science and Technology Agency and University of York.^[809]
• T2K experiment
• Translucent zero expansion glass-ceramic — In 2009, Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) developed the first colorless transparent zero-expansion glass-ceramics.^[810]

Biomedical science

Endoscope (colonoscopy camera) by Pentax.

• 3D OCT scan — In 2006, Topcon launched the first 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) combined with features of a fundus camera.^[267]
• ALK positive lung cancer (fusion genes) — Hiroyuki Mano, research institute director at the National Cancer Center, led the discovery of lung cancer fusion genes.^[245]
  • Cancer gene therapy (cancer treatment) — Hiroyuki Mano led the discovery of cancer gene therapy treatment using cancer genome sequencing.^[245]
• Aspergillus oryzae — The genome for Aspergillus oryzae was sequenced and released by a consortium of Japanese biotechnology companies, in late 2005.^[811]
• Automated dispensing cabinet — In 2004, Sumitomo Heavy Industries released the first automatic radiopharmaceutical administering device for positron emission tomography.^[812]
• Electrosurgical insulated-tip knife (IT knife) — Introduced by Olympus in 2002 for endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) surgical procedures.^[618]
• HD video endoscopy — In 2002, the Olympus Evis Lucera was the first HD endoscopic video system.^[618]
• High-resolution medical monitor — In 2000, JVC introduced high-resolution medical monitors, including a 2–5 megapixel CRT monitor and a 3 megapixel LCD monitor.^[154]
  • High brightness monitor — JVC's i series (2005) medical diagnostic monitor was the first high brightness color display with more than 450 cd/m² luminance.^[154]
• High-tensile strength plate — In 2007, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal developed the first high-tensile strength plate for improving the fatigue strength of welded joints.^[807]
• Human Genome Project (HGP) — Japanese research institutions participated in the project between 1990 and 2003. DNA sequencing of human genome was complete in 2003.^[60]
• Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell) — The iPS cell (iPSCs) is a type of pluripotent stem cell. It was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006, for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[107]
• Medical imaging LCD monitor — In 2001, JVC introduced a 20.8-inch LCD monitor with calibration for 2–3 megapixel medical imaging.^[154]
• Plant fertilization — Nagoya University professor Tetsuya Higashiyama discovered the process of plant fertilization.^[245]
• Sub-pixel super-resolution imaging (SR) — In 2007, JVC introduced the first 15 megapixel LCD medical monitor using independent sub-pixel SR technology, used for mammography.^[154]
• Transurethral resection in saline (TURis) — This urological surgical procedure was developed by Japanese physicians Makoto Miki (Shinjuku Ishikawa Hospital), Hiroaki Shiozawa, Tetsuo Matsumoto and Taku Aizawa between 2000 and 2003.^[813]

Technology

DER-01 (2003), the first actroid.

• Actroid — An android visually similar to humans. DER-01 (2003), developed by The Intelligent Robotics Lab in Japan, was the first actroid.^[814]
• Compact photo printer — In 2001, Canon introduced the first "camera direct" inkjet printer allowing digital pictures to be printed directly from a digital camera.^[216]
  • Large-format printer with ambient light sensor — The first was Canon's ImagePROGRAF iPF6100 (2007) with an ambient light adjustment function.^[216]
• Cycling robot — Murata Boy, developed by Murata Manufacturing in 2005, was the first robot that could ride a bicycle.^[815]

• Mole robot — In 2001, NTT developed the first non-soil discharge mole robot, used to install a conduit without excavation.^[386]
• Nursing medical robot — The first was RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance), also known as Ri-Man, developed by Riken and Tokai Rubber Industries (TRI) in 2006.^[815]
  • Rehabilitation robotics — Panasonic's Realive, developed in 2006, was the first practical robotic suit designed for rehabilitating stroke patients.^[815]
• OLED printer — In early 2006, Epson demonstrated the first print head using OLED light source, co‑developed with Sumitomo Chemical.^[670]
• Robotic sensing electronic tongue — In the mid-2000s, NEC and Mie University invented the first robot with an optical tongue capable of tasting.^[815]
• Running humanoid robot — Sony's QRIO (2003) was the first humanoid robot capable of running.^[198]

Audio

Diagram of 5.1, 9.2 and 22.2 channel surround sound layouts.

• 5.1 surround sound vehicle audio — In 2003, Honda's 2004 Acura TL was the first car with 5.1 surround sound.^[637]
• 22.2 surround sound (Hamasaki 22.2) — In 2005, Kimio Hamasaki's NHK STRL team demonstrated the first 22.2 surround sound system for Super Hi-Vision technology.^[816]
• Cymbal drum pad — Roland's TD-10 Expanded System (2001) was the first electronic drum kit with V-Cymbals drum pads.^[744]
  • Marching percussion electronic drum — Roland's RMP-12 Marching Percussion (2008) was the first electronic marching percussion instrument.^[744]
• Digital accordion (MIDI accordian) — The Roland FR-7 (2004) was the first digital accordion.^[817]
• Singing voice synthesis music software — Between 1999 and 2003, Yamaha developed Vocaloid, a then novel software that synthesized a singing human voice.^[818]

Computing

Automated teller machine (ATM) supporting Bitcoin in Japan.

• Bitcoin — Founded in 2009, its founder uses the name Satoshi Nakamoto, but his identity is unknown. He was believed to be Dorian Nakamato, but he denied it was him.^[819]
• E-reader with electronic paper — Sony Librie (2004), co-developed with Toppan, was the first e‑reader with electronic paper display (EPD).^[820]
• Mathematical display — The Casio fx-82ES (2004) calculator introduced a natural mathematical display as the calculator input method.^[217]
• Measurement-based quantum computer (MBQC) — In 2008, NTT first demonstrated quantum computing based on quantum gate teleportation.^[386]
• Mobile payment (mobile wallet) — In 2004, NTT DoCoMo and Sony introduced the first mobile wallets with the Osaifu-Keitai payment system for 3G mobile phones in Japan.^[821]
• NILFS — A log-structured file system for Linux developed by NTT in 2005.^[822]
• OLED computer display — The Sony CLIÉ PEG-VZ90 (2004) was the first PDA mobile computing device to feature an OLED display.^[670]
• Optical fingerprint scanner — In 2003, Mitsubishi developed the first "finger composition characteristics detection" optical fingerprint sensor.^[259]
  • Contactless fingerprinting — The Mitsubishi Finger Identification Device (2005) was the first non-contact fingerprint recognition device.^[259]
• Petascale computing (PetaFLOPS) — The RIKEN MDGRAPE-3, developed circa 2003–2006, was the first supercomputer to reach PetaFLOPS (PFLOPS) performance with 1 quadrillion floating-point operations per second (FLOPS).^[823]

Digital cameras

Epson R-D1 (2004), the first digital rangefinder mirrorless camera.

• 1080i image sensor — In 2004, Sony released the first commercial HD CCD sensor supporting 1080i digital HD video.^[418]
  • RGBE filter — The Sony ICX456, an 8 megapixel CCD introduced with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 (2003) camera, was the first RGBE image sensor.^[418]
• Back-illuminated sensor (BI sensor) — Developed by Sony engineer Hideo Yamanaka in 2002.^[824]
• Autostereoscopic 3D camera — The Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D (2009) was the first autostereoscopic 3D camera.^[825]
• CMOS sensor DSLR — The Canon EOS D30 (2000) was the first DSLR camera with CMOS sensor.^[749]
  • Full-frame DSLR — The first full-frame DSLR was the Contax N Digital, announced in 2000 and released in 2002.^[826]
• Credit card size miniature camera (card camera) — The Casio EXILIM EX-S1 (2002) was the first credit‑card‑size digital camera, called a wearable card camera by Casio.^[170]
• Digital camera image stabilizer — The Panasonic DMC-FX5 (2003) was the first compact digital camera with image stabilizer and 3× optical zoom.^[94]
• Digital compositing camera — The Casio EX-Z400 (2009) was the first digital camera capable of producing composite moving images.^[170]
• DSLR video camera — The Nikon D90 (2008) was the DSLR camera capable of video recording.^[166]
  • Full HD DSLR video camera — The Canon EOS 5D Mark II (2008) was the first DSLR camera capable of full HD video recording.^[166]
• HD video CMOS sensor — In 2005, Sony released the first commercial CMOS sensor for HD digital video cameras.^[418]
• Mirrorless camera — The Epson R-D1 (2004) was the first mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC).^[827]
  • Digital rangefinder — The Epson R-D1 (2004) was the first digital rangefinder camera.^[827]
• Tapeless camcorder — The Sony XDCAM PDW (2003) camcorder replaced tape with Professional Disc (PFD) recording.^[198]
• Smart vision sensor — In 2007, Omron developed the first 3D vision image sensor for 3D imaging.^[223]

Domestic appliances

Sharp FU-888SV Plasmacluster air purifier.

• Angled washing machine — Panasonic's Lab NA-V80 (2003) was the first washing machine with a 30° slanting drum, reducing energy and water consumption.^[94]
  • Air wash — In 2006, Sanyo introduced the first drum-type washing machine with air wash, using ozone as a disinfectant. It also disinfects and recycles rinse water.^[828]
• Helical air compressor — In 2000, Toshiba released the first AC with helical compressor, the Modular Multi System using R407C refrigerant.^[274]
• Light commercial air conditioner (light commercial AC) — The first was Toshiba's Super Power Eco (2001) using DC inverter rotary compressors (R410A refrigerant).^[274]
  • Self-cleaning AC — The Panasonic CS-E255A (2005) was the first AC with a filter cleaner robot using auto suction and emission technology.^[94]
• Microwave oven drawers — Sharp's KB6014MSC and KB6015MSC, released in 2007, were the first microwave drawers.^[73]
  • RFIQin (RFIQ) — Automatic induction cooking device using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, invented by Mamoru Imura in early 2004.^[829]
• Plasma air purifier — Sharp's Plasmacluster, developed between 1998 and 2000, was the first plasma air purifier.^[176]
• Self-cleaning intelligent toilet — Panasonic's A La Uno (2006) was the first auto‑cleaning toilet.^[94]

Energy technology

Toshiba LEL-AW6L/2 (2009), an early commercial white LED bulb.

• Ceramic matrix composite axial turbine — In the early 21st century, IHI introduced the application of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) technology on axial flow turbine rotors.^[830]
• Floating solar — The first floating solar installation was built in 2007 by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Aichi.^[831]
  • Perovskite solar cell (PSC) — Invented by Tsutomu Miyasaka, Akihiro Kojima, Kenjiro Teshima and Yasuo Shirai in 2009.^[832]
• LED surgical lighting — In 2001, J. Shimada's team developed goggles with white LED lighting for use in medical surgery.^[409]
  • LED headlight — Toyota's Lexus LS 600h L (2006) was the first production car with LED headlights.^[833]
  • White LED lamp (LED bulb) — In 2007, Toshiba released the first commercial white LED lamp for homes.^[378]
• Matrix converter — Yaskawa's Varispeed AC7 (2006) was the first commercial matrix converter.^[258]
• Microturbine portable generator — IHI's Dynajet 2.6 Micro Gas Turbine Generator (2002) was the first portable microturbine generator.^[834]
• Organic radical battery (polymer-based battery) — Developed by NEC and Waseda University between 2001 and 2005.^[835]
  • Glass battery — In 2009, Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) and Iwate University developed the first TFLB battery on ultra‑thin glass substrate. In 2023, NEG developed the first glass-ceramic solid-state sodium-ion battery.^[810]
• Piezoelectric walkway — In 2006, East Japan Railway's Tokyo Station harvested energy from footsteps to power ticket gates and EL displays.^[836]

Microtechnology

Cross-section diagram of a typical metal oxide thin-film transistor (oxide TFT).

• Carbon nanotube quantum dot — Developed by Koji Ishibashi's Riken research team in 2000.^[837]
• Glass integrated circuit — In 2002, Shunpei Yamazaki's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) and Sharp demonstrated an 8-bit CPU chip on a glass substrate.^[394]
• Nanocomputer — In 2008, Imran Mahboob and Hiroshi Yamaguchi at NTT proposed a nanomechanical computer using nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS).^[180]
• Oxide thin-film transistor (oxide TFT) — The first oxide TFT was the indium gallium zinc oxide TFT (IGZO TFT) invented by Hideo Hosono's group at Tokyo Institute of Technology and JST in 2003.^[838]
• Vertical NAND (V-NAND) — V-NAND (3D NAND) stacks NAND flash memory cells vertically within a chip using 3D CTF technology. V-NAND technology was introduced by Toshiba in 2007.^[839]

Telecommunication

J-SH04 (2000), a camera phone by Sharp and J-Phone, introduced picture messaging.

• CDMA mobile test set — Anritsu developed the first W-CDMA signalling tester in 2001 and the first W-CDMA conformance test system in 2003.^[75]
• Hands free Bluetooth car phone — Introduced in 2003 on the Honda Acura TL.^[637]
• Long-term evolution (LTE) — Developed by NTT DoCoMo in 2004.^[840]
  • 4G (LTE Advanced) — 4G (LTE+) was first demonstrated in 2004 by NTT DoCoMo using VSF-OFCDM technology, reaching 1 Gbit/s data rate.^[840]
• Mobile computer with wireless Internet — Fujitsu's MV-BIBLO LOOX (2000) was the first mobile computer with built-in wireless Internet data transmission.^[411]
• Mobile phone face recognition — In 2004, Omron developed facial recognition technology for mobile phones.^[223]
• Multimedia messaging service (MMS) — Picture messaging was introduced with the J-SH04, released by Sharp and J-Phone in 2000.^[176]
• Multicast MPLS — In 2003, NTT first developed multicast MPLS for broadband Internet services.^[386]
• Near-field communication (NFC) — In March 2002, Sony and Philips established a technology specification for NFC and created a technical outline.^[841]
• WiMAX integrated circuit — In 2005, Fujitsu developed the first LSI chips for WiMAX-compliant base stations.^[411]
• Wireless video intercom — Panasonic's Dokodemo Intercom VL-SW102K (2004) was the first video intercom with a wireless monitor unit, with users able to respond by voice or video from anywhere in the house ^[94]

Transportation

Auriga Leader (2008), the first solar-powered electric ship.

• Aeronautical Telecommunication Network router (ATN router) — Developed by Oki and sold to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2003.^[304]
• Air bag vest — Honda introduced the first motorcycle airbag system in 2005.^[230]
  • Motorcycle dual-clutch transmission (DCT) — The Honda VFR1200F (2009) was the first motorcycle to use DCT.^[231]
• Hybrid train (tribrid) — JR East's NE Train (2003) was the first commercial hybrid electric railcar, combining three power sources including diesel, electric and battery power.^[842]
  • Hydrogen train (hydrail) — JR East's NE Train KuMoYa E995 (2006) was the first commercial hydrogen fuel cell rail vehicle.^[842]
  • Battery electric multiple unit (BEMU) — JR East's NE Train Smart Denchi-kun (2009) was an early commercial battery electric train.^[843]
• Solar powered ships (electric ship) — Auriga Leader (2008) by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Nippon Oil was the first electric ship powered by photovoltaic solar cells.^[844]
• Superimposed field excitation control — Developed by Toyo Denki for JNR's 205 series electric multiple unit (EMU) train in 1985.^[229]

Video games

Wii Remote (2006) motion controller.

• Bloom (shader effect) — Squaresoft's PlayStation 2 game The Bouncer (2000) introduced the use of bloom in 3D real-time computer graphics.^[845]
• Motion-sensing controller — Invented by Nintendo for the Wii, the Wii Remote was the first console game controller with motion sensing capability.^[815]
• Over-the-shoulder (OTS) — Resident Evil 4 (2005) redefined the TPS genre with its "over the shoulder" offset camera angles, with the camera placed over the right shoulder.^[846]
• Postmodern art game — Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) is considered the first postmodern video game.^[847]
  • Post-truth politics — Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001) is cited as an early work that anticipated contemporary post-truth politics.^[847]
• Soulslike — A subgenre of ARPG and action-adventure games that originates from FromSoftware's Demon's Souls (2009).^[848]

2010s

Arts

Babymetal in 2014. They pioneered the kawaii metal music genre.

• Cajón electronic drum — Roland's ELCajon EC-10 Electronic Percussion (2016) was the first hybrid cajón with built-in electronic sounds.^[310]
• Kawaii metal — In the early 2010s, Japanese idol heavy metal music group Babymetal pioneered the kawaii metal genre.^[849]
• Volumetric capture studio — In 2010, the first dedicated volumetric video motion capture studio was Tokyo's DigiCast studio, built by 4Dviews and Crescent Inc.^[850]

Sciences

• Electrosurgery with ultrasound and RF energy — The Thunderbeat (2012) by Olympus was the first electrosurgical device with ultrasonic and bipolar RF energy.^[242]
• HD video bronchoscope — The first high-definition (HD) video bronchoscope was introduced by Pentax in 2011.^[851]
• Hot rolling thermometer — In 2011, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal developed the first hot rolling sheet steel thermometer with high precision.^[807]
• iPS cell regenerative medicine — In 2014, Riken researcher Masayo Takahashi used iPS cells for eye treatment of an elderly woman suffering from age-related macular degeneration.^[615]
• Multimodality color medical monitor — In 2012, Eizo introduced the first multi-modality color medical monitor, with a 4K resolution (8 megapixel) display used for mammography, cardiology and radiology.^[852]
• OLED medical monitor — Sony's 25-inch PVM-2551MD (2012) surgical monitor was the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved OLED medical grade display.^[853]
• Spectrum cell analyzer — Sony's SP6800 (2013) was the first spectrum cell analyzer.^[198]
• Thermal cracking by gasification — By 2015, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal had successfully established the first thermal cracking technology using gasification recycling equipment for 100% resource recovery.^[807]

Spacecraft

See also: Japanese space program

IKAROS, a space probe that used solar sail technology for interplanetary spaceflight in 2010.

• Asteroid sample-return mission — Hayabusa (2003–2010) was the first successful asteroid space probe to travel through outer space and return with an asteroid sample.^[245]
• Comet digital video footage (Comet ISON) — In 2013, a 4K resolution Canon Cinema EOS digital camera was used to capture the first video footage of Comet ISON.^[216]
• Solar sail — IKAROS, launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2010, was the first spacecraft to successfully use solar sail technology for propulsion.^[854]
  • Solar sail interplanetary spaceflight — IKAROS (2010) made the first successful interplanetary spaceflight using solar sail technology.^[854]
  • Space-based solar power — In 2015, JAXA wirelessly beamed 1.8 kW solar power in outer space to a receiver, converting between electricity and microwaves.^[855]
• Space elevator — STARS-Me (Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite–Miniature Elevator), developed by Shizuoka University in 2016, was the first orbital space elevator to be successfully launched in 2018.^[856]

Technology

Kuratas (2012), the first giant boarding mecha robot.

• Artificial intelligence marketing (AIM) — Toyota's "Driven by Intuition" advert for the 2018 Lexus ES car was the first advert written entirely by artificial intelligence (AI).^[785]
• Giant boarding mecha robot — Kuratas, revealed in 2012, was the first giant boarding robot modelled after the mechs from mecha anime and manga.^[857]
• IoT label printer — The SATO CL4/6NX (2015) was the first Internet of things (IoT) ready label printing solution.^[567]
• ISO 22301 — In 2012, Fujitsu co-developed the ISO 22301 international standard for business continuity management systems.^[411]
• OLED lighting panel —- Japanese company Lumiotec, co-founded by Mitsubishi and Toppan, released the first OLED lighting panel in January 2010.^[670]
• Sensitive skin (electronic device) — In 2013, sensitive electronic skin was developed by a research group at Tokyo University led by Professor Takao Someya.^[858]
• Smartglasses (augmented reality glasses) — Canon demonstrated mixed-reality smartglasses in 2010 with a MR (Mixed Reality) System.^[859]
• Swimming humanoid robot — The first was Swumanoid, developed by Motomu Nakashima's team at the Tokyo Institute of Technology between 2007 and 2012.^[860]

Automobiles

Toyota Mirai (2014), the first production hydrogen car.

• Hybrid electric compact car — Toyota's Lexus CT 200h (2011) was the first full hybrid luxury compact car.^[785]
• Hydrogen car — The Toyota Mirai (2014), based on the Toyota FCV-R (2011) concept car, was the first production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV).^[861]
• Solid-state car battery — In 2012, Toyota began conducting research into automotive applications of solid-state battery technology.^[862]
• Truck dual-clutch transmission (DCT) — In 2010, the Mitsubishi Fuso 6-speed Duonic transmission was the first dual-clutch transmission (DCT) used in a truck.^[863]
• Variable valve timing diesel engine (diesel VVT) — The Mitsubishi 4N1 engine (2010) was the first passenger car diesel engine with VVT system.^[864]

Digital cameras

Sony α7 (2013), the first full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC).

• Full-frame compact camera — The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 (2012) was the first compact camera with a full-frame sensor.^[166]
• Full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (full-frame MILC) — The Sony α7 (2013) was the first full-frame MILC.^[166]
• Smart digital camera — The Nikon Coolpix S800c (2012) was the first digital smart camera, running on the Android operating system and integrating Android mobile apps like smartphones and other smart devices.^[865]
• Stacked CMOS — In 2012, Sony released the first stacked CMOS sensor, the Exmor RS.^[866]

Display technology

Nintendo 3DS (2011), the first game console with autostereoscopic 3D display (parallax barrier).

• 3LCD laser projector — The Sony VPL-FHZ55 (2013) was the first 3LCD laser light source projector.^[198]
• 10K resolution — In 2010, 120 megapixels image resolution and 13K horizontal resolution (13,280×9184) was reached using an APS-H CMOS sensor developed by Canon.^[216]
  • 16K resolution — Sony, Nest+Visual and Indy Associates in early 2014 demonstrated 16K video, using a modified Sony F65 CineAlta camera. A 16K film was presented in March 2014 on a multi-screen video display at Tokyo International Airport.^[867]
  • 32K resolution — In 2018, Sony were working on developing a 32K display.^[868]
• Autostereoscopic game console — The Nintendo 3DS (2011) was the first game console with an autostereoscopic 3D display using parallax barrier technology.^[869]
• Calibration sensor — Introduced with Eizo's ColorEdge CG Series monitors in 2010, for which Eizo received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 2021.^[870]
• H.265 (HEVC) — Japanese companies that contributed patents towards the HEVC (2013) video coding standard include NTT, JVC, NEC, Fujitsu, Maxell, NHK, Canon and Funai.^[871]
  • AV1 — Japanese companies that contributed patents towards the development of the AV1 (2018) video coding format include NTT and Toshiba.^[872]
• Hybrid log–gamma (HLG) — HDR TV format co-developed by NHK and BBC in 2015.^[873]
• OLED large-screen television technology — In 2009, Mitsubishi developed the first Diamond Vision OLED TVs with 100" to 155" display sizes, released in 2010.^[670]
  • OLED head-mounted display (HMD) — The Sony HMZ-T1 (2011) was the first 3D HMD equipped with a HD OLED display.^[198]
  • Crystal LED (CLED) — Sony unveiled CLED display technology at CES 2012.^[368]
• QLED — The first manufacturer shipping quantum dot LED (QLED) TVs was Sony in 2013 as Triluminos, Sony's trademark for the technology.^[874]
• Touchable hologram — In 2015, Japanese firm Aerial Burton and researchers from four Japanese universities demonstrated the first touchable hologram.^[875]

Domestic appliances

• Air purifier mosquito trap — Sharp's FU-GK50 (2016) Plasmacluster is the first mosquito-catching air purifier.^[73]
• DC twin rotary compressor — In 2017, Toshiba developed the first DC twin rotary air compressor, the world's largest capacity for INV Chiller.^[274]
• Rice bread cooker — Panasonic's Gopan SPM-RB1000 (2010) was the first rice bread cooker used to automatically cook rice bread.^[94]
• Scrub-free bathroom detergent — Lion's Look Plus Bath Cleansing (2018) was the first bath detergent that cleans the bath tub with no scrubbing required.^[273]
• Voice control air conditioner — In 2011, Toshiba released the first voice-controlled AC.^[274]

Microtechnology

• Bit-patterned media (BPM) — In 2010, Toshiba introduced the first BPM hard drive.^[876]
• Nanofluid dishwashing detergent — Lion's Charmy Magica (2015) was the first nano‑cleansing dishwashing detergent.^[273]
• Nanoimprint lithography mass production — Canon's FPA-1200NZ2C, developed from 2004 to 2017, was the first mass production equipment for nanoimprint lithography (NIL).^[877]
  • Multi-beam lithography — In 2017, JEOL and IMS developed the first multi-electron beam lithography system for mass production.^[240]
• Optical communication nanowire lasers — In 2017, NTT demonstrated the first laser oscillation and modulation with optical communication nanowire.^[386]

Transportation

Sunflower Shiretoko, a Japanese passenger ferry that made a 750 km autonomous ship voyage in 2022.

• Autonomous ship (autonomous cargo ship) — In 2019, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) conducted the first Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) voyage.^[292]
• Bunkering LNG carrier — NYK's Engie Zeebrugge (2016) was the first LNG bunkering ship.^[292]
• Natural gas vehicle Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) — In 2016, NYK launched the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuelled pure‑car‑and‑truck-carrier (PCTC) ship.^[292]

Telecommunication

Kyocera Echo (2011), the first commercial foldable smartphone.

• 5G — NTT DoCoMo began developing 5G in 2010 and demonstrated it in 2013, reaching up to 10 Gbit/s data rate and super high frequency 11 GHz bandwidth.^[840]
  • 6G — Proposed by NTT DoCoMo in January 2019.^[840]
• Foldable smartphone — The first commercial foldable smartphone was the Kyocera Echo (2011).^[878]
• LTE (telecommunication) conformance test — Anritsu developed the first LTE conformance test system in 2010.^[75]
  • LTE+ conformance test — Anritsu developed the first LTE+ signalling tester MD8430A in 2012, LTE+ conformance test system in 2013, and 5G test platform in 2018.^[75]
• Multi-camera smartphone — Sharp Aquos R2 (2018) was the first smartphone with dual-camera configuration including photo camera and video camera.^[73]
• Petabit per second (Pbit/s) — In 2012, NTT demonstrated the first successful 1 Pbit/s fibre-optic transmission over 50 km.^[386]
• Terahertz band wireless communication (THz) — Tadao Nagatsuma demonstrated 120 GHz wireless with photonics video signal in 2000 and 10 Gbit/s broadband in 2002. In 2014, Minoru Fujishima demonstrated 1 THz RF CMOS signal.^[879]
  • Wireless communication with orbital angular momentum multiplexing (OAM) — In 2018, NTT successfully demonstrated the first 100 Gbit/s wireless transmission using OAM multiplexing.^[386]
• Wireless earphones — Onkyo's W800BT range, launched in 2015, were the first wireless in-ear headphones.^[880]
• Wireless guitar amplifier — The Boss KATANA-AIR Wireless Guitar Amplifier (2018) was the first fully wireless guitar amplifier.^[817]
• VTuber — In 2010, Nitroplus uploaded YouTube videos with Super Sonico talking to the audience about herself and company releases.^[881]

2020s

• Hyper-Kamiokande
• Solid-state sodium-ion battery (SIB) — In 2021, Nippon Electric Glass developed the first oxide solid-state SIB battery.^[810]

Artificial intelligence

• Cognitive computing image processor — Sony's Cognitive Processor XR (2020) was the first picture processor with cognitive intelligence.^[882]
• Cognitive computing smart TV — The Sony Bravia XR, introduced in January 2021, was the first cognitive intelligence TV using Cognitive Processor XR technology.^[882]
• Intelligent vision sensor — In 2020, Sony's IMX500 and IMX501 were the first intelligent vision sensors with AI edge computing and image analysis for smart cameras.^[198]

Computing

Fugaku (supercomputer), completed in 2020, reached exascale computing perfornance.

• Exascale computing (ExaFLOPS) — The Fugaku (supercomputer), developed by Riken circa 2014–2020, first reached ExaFLOPS performance (1 quintillion FLOPS).^[883]
• Flux control MAMR (FC-MAMR) — In 2021, Toshiba released the first flux control microwave-assisted magnetic recording (FC-MAMR) hard drive.^[839]
• H.266 (VVC) — Japanese companies that contributed patents towards VVC (2020) include NTT, Godo kaisha, JVC, KDDI, Mitsubishi, NEC, Panasonic and Fujitsu.^[884]
• MPEG-5 (EVC) — Japanese companies that contributed patents towards EVC (ISO/IEC 23094-1), developed 2018–2020, include Sharp and Panasonic.^[885]
• Photonics telecommunications network — Between 2019 and 2021, NTT led the development of Innovative Optical and Wireless Networks (IOWN), the first all-photonics telecommunications network.^[886]

Transportation

• Ammonia fuel commercial vessel — Sakigake (2024) by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) is the first commercial-use ammonia-fueled vessel.^[292]
• Onboard digital currency — Between 2019 and 2020, NYK co-developed MarCoPay (Maritime Community Pay), the first onboard digital currency platform.^[292]
• Panamax natural gas vehicle — In 2023, NYK launched the LNG-fuelled Panamax ship.^[292]

See also

• Economy of Japan
  • Construction industry of Japan
  • Electronics industry in Japan
  • Japanese financial system
• History of typography in East Asia
• List of automotive superlatives
• List of Chinese inventions
  • List of Chinese discoveries
  • List of Taiwanese inventions and discoveries
• List of Korean inventions and discoveries
• Rail transport in Japan
  • History of rail transport in Japan
• Science and technology in Japan
  • History of science and technology in Japan
  • List of military aircraft of Japan
  • List of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
  • Nuclear power in Japan
• Sports in Japan
• Ten Japanese Great Inventors