Akio Morita on the cover of his autobiography Made in Japan

Akio Morita (盛田昭夫 Morita Akio, January 26, 1921 in Nagoya, Japan – October 3, 1999 in Tokyo) was a co-founder of Sony Corporation. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Made in Japan - Sony biography Made in Japan is the autobiography of the late Akio Morita, the Japanese cofounder and former chairman of the Sony corporation. ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... Nagoya Castle in June of 2004. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $68. ...

Biography

Early life

Akio Morita was born on January 26, 1921 in Nagoya to a family that was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in Chita Peninsula, Aichi Prefecture since 1665. He graduated from Osaka Imperial University in 1944. Sake barrels at Itsukushima Shrine. ... Miso ) is a traditional Japanese food produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and kōji (the most typical miso is made with soy). ... Soy sauce (US) or soya sauce is a fermented sauce made from soybeans (soya beans), roasted grain, water and salt. ... Satellite image of Chita Peninsula (left), Mikawa Bay (center), and Atsumi Peninsula (lower right) Chita Peninsula (知多半島 Chita Hantō) is a peninsula to the south of Aichi Prefecture, central Honshu, Japan. ... For the company, see Aichi Steel Corporation. ... Year 1665 (MDCLXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Osaka University (大阪大学 Ōsaka Daigaku; abbreviated to 阪大 Handai) is a public coeducational research university in Suita, Osaka, Japan. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Wartime

Trained as a physicist, Morita was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He met Masaru Ibuka in the Wartime Research Committee. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (: 大日本帝國海軍 Shinjitai: 大日本帝国海軍   or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun), officially Navy of Empire of Greater Japan, also known as the Japanese Navy or Combined Fleet was the Navy of Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japans constitutional renunciation of the use of force... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Masaru Ibuka (April 11, 1908 in Nikko City, Japan - December 19, 1997 in Tokyo) was a Japanese electronics industrialist. ...

Sony

After the War, on May 7, 1946, Morita and Ibuka foundedTokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the forerunner to Sony) with approximately 20 employees and initial capital of ¥190,000. Ibuka was 38 years old at the time and Morita was 25. Morita's family invested in Sony during the early period and used to be the largest shareholder. May 7 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (128th in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

In 1949, the company developed magnetic recording tape and in 1950 sold the first tape recorder in Japan. In 1957 it produced a pocket-sized radio (the first full-transistorized radio in the world's history) and a year later renamed itself Sony (sonus is Latin for sound, and Sonny-boys is Japanese slang for "whiz kids"). In 1960 it produced the first transistor television in the world. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a longitudinal wave, and therefore is a mechanical wave. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... The whiz kid is a stock character who is notably intelligent, but typically lacking in physical strength. ... Assorted discrete transistors A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an amplifier. ...

In 1961, Sony Corporation of America was the first Japanese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1989 Sony bought Columbia Pictures. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ...

On November 25, 1994, Morita announced his resignation as Sony chairman, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while playing tennis. His successor, Norio Ohga, had joined the company after sending Morita a letter denouncing the poor quality of the company's tape recorders. November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... A cerebral hemorrhage is a bleed into the substance of the cerebrum. ... Norio Ohga (大賀典雄, Ōga Norio, otherwise spelt Norio Oga, born January 29, 1930) is a Japanese electronics businessman who originally trained as an opera singer. ...

Publications

In 1966, Morita wrote a book called Never Mind School Records, in which he stresses that school records are not important in one's success or ability to do business.

In 1986, Morita wrote an autobiography titled Made in Japan. Made in Japan - Sony biography Made in Japan is the autobiography of the late Akio Morita, the Japanese cofounder and former chairman of the Sony corporation. ...

In the early 1990s, he was famous for co-authoring the 1991 essay The Japan that Can Say No with politician Shintaro Ishihara, which criticized United States business practices and encouraged Japanese to take a more independent role in business and foreign affairs. The Japan that Can Say No (Japanese title: 『「NO」と言える日本』 no to ieru nihon) is an essay written in 1989 in Japanese, co-written by Sony chairman Akio Morita and politician Shintaro Ishihara during Japans successful economic rise in the late 1980s. ... Shintaro Ishihara (right) in a typical election poster pose with local lawmaker Ichiro Akita (left). ...

Other service

He was also Vice Chairman of the Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations) and was a member of the Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group, (also known as the "Wise Men's Group"). Japan Business Federation (日本経済団体連合会) is a comprehensive economic organization born in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations) and Nikkeiren (Japan Federation of Employers Associations). ... Japan Business Federation (日本経済団体連合会) is a comprehensive economic organization born in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations) and Nikkeiren (Japan Federation of Employers Associations). ...

Awards

He was awarded the Albert Medal from the United Kingdom's Royal Society of Arts in 1982; he was the first Japanese to receive the honor. Two years later, he received the prestigious National Order of the Legion of Honor and in 1991, he was awarded the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan. The Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts was instituted in 1864 as a memorial to Prince Albert, who had been President of the Society for 18 years. ... The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. ... Chiang Kai-sheks Légion dhonneur. ... The Order of the Sacred Treasures ) is a Japanese Order (decoration), established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. ... Emperor Akihito reads the Speech from the Throne to the Japanese Diet His Imperial Majesty Akihito (明仁) (born December 23, 1933) is the current and 125th Emperor of Japan. ...

Death

Morita died of pneumonia at the age of 78. Pneumonia is an illness of the lungs and respiratory system in which the alveoli (microscopic air-filled sacs of the lung responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere) become inflamed and flooded with fluid. ...

See also

• Made in Japan (biography)

Made in Japan - Sony biography Made in Japan is the autobiography of the late Akio Morita, the Japanese cofounder and former chairman of the Sony corporation. ...

External links

• Time magazine profile
• Sony Biographical notes
• PBS notes
• Full Biography at World of Biography

Further reading

• Morita, Akio. Made in Japan (New York: Dutton, 1986, ISBN 0451151712)
• Morita, Akio. Never Mind School Records (1966) (ISBN 4022604158 in Japanese)
• Morita, Akio (Co-Author) and Shintaro Ishihara. The Japan That Can Say No (Simon & Schuster, 1991, ISBN 0671758535)
• List of books authored by Akio Morita at WorldCat

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