 |
|
When Ibuka arrived in New York, he first visited the city branch of
Nissho (now Nissho Iwai) to meet Shido Yamada. Tamon Maeda and Nissho
president Masaichi Nishikawa had lived in New York before the Second World
War and knew each other well. They had returned to Japan on the same ship after the war.
It was through Nishikawa's introduction that Ibuka met Yamada.
Yamada had temporarily worked at Nissho in New York prior to working in
the stock brokerage business both before and during the war. A man of high
esteem, Yamada was not only proficient in English but also quite well
informed on what was happening in the U.S. He proved to be an excellent
contact, helping Ibuka throughout his stay in the United States by showing
him around and acting as an interpreter. When Ibuka said, "Staying at a
hotel would be a waste of money because my foreign currency allocation is
limited," Yamada offered him lodging. When Ibuka wanted to see a factory,
he arranged it.
|
 | | Shido Yamada (center) in New York. |
One day, another friend in the U.S. came to see Ibuka and informed him
that Western Electric was going to release their transistor patent to
interested companies. "Are you interested?" the friend asked him.
The transistor was invented in 1948 by Dr. W. B. Shockley, Dr. J.
Bardeen and Dr. W. Brattain, all of Bell Laboratories. Western Electric, the
parent company of Bell Laboratories, held the patent rights for
manufacturing the transistor and had just made the rights available to
anyone who would pay royalties. That was what Ibuka was told.
Since his arrival, Ibuka had been having one sleepless night after
another, despite his hectic and exhausting schedule. This was
only natural, considering the fact that he was traveling in a foreign
country for the first time. On such restless nights, Ibuka would think about
his company and colleagues back home.
n idea flashed through his mind. "We will work on the transistor. It
will require many engineers and researchers as well. Thank God those new
Totsuko people relish a new challenge. This is just right for them."
Totsuko had hired a large number of specialists in an effort to advance
the company's tape production technology. Consequently, about one third of Totsuko's
staff were graduates from colleges and universities, making Totsuko a
top-heavy company. Ibuka was worried about this situation. As the tape
recorder business had taken a definite shape, Ibuka had started thinking
about some new project which would galvanize and best utilize the diverse
strengths of his engineering and specialist talent. "What kind of work
should I give them?" Ibuka kept asking himself.
An idea flashed through his mind. "We will work on the transistor. It
will require many engineers and researchers as well. Thank God those new
Totsuko people relish a new challenge. This is just right for them."
If Totsuko had not been facing such a situation, Ibuka probably would
have paid no heed to Western Electric's offer. His original purpose in
coming to the U.S. had nothing to do with the transistor. The royalty
payment of $25,000 (about 9 million yen) then seemed too large for Totsuko.
Yet the feeling that it would be worth try was beginning to
dominate Ibuka's mind. Besides, four years had passed since the invention of
the transistor, and Ibuka appreciated the fact that, despite his initial
assumption, the transistor was very different from the crystal detector. The
transistor itself had been much improved, moving from a contact-point type
to an alloy type.
Ibuka asked Yamada for help at once. "I want to get as much information
as possible on the transistor before I return to Japan." Yamada tried
again and again to arrange a meeting with the Western Electric manager in
charge of transistor devices, but had difficulty in doing so. The time for
Ibuka to leave the U.S. soon came. After entrusting the matter to Yamada, he
returned to Japan with some regret. Ibuka's souvenirs of the United States were
a germanium diode and a vinyl tablecloth, neither of which existed in Japan
at the time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
