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A Ibuka left New York, Yamada continued to help Totsuko acquire the transistor patent from Western Electric. He paid frequent visits to their office.
Each time, Yamada ardently described the kind of company Totsuko was.
Yamada had a talent for sketching and he often drew pictures of people
working in the Western Electric office. So before long Yamada became very
popular with the employees. He wrote Ibuka a detailed report on his talks
with Western Electric.
Why would Yamada care so much about Totsuko, a company with which he
had little personal connection?
As an experienced stockbroker in New
York, Yamada sensed there was something special about Totsuko.
"Totsuko is small and unknown, but wait and see, Makie," he would often say to his
wife. "I'm sure they'll become a major enterprise before too long."
Eventually Yamada's efforts bore fruit, and this was conveyed to Ibuka
in a letter from the U.S. "We will be pleased to license our patent to
your company," wrote Western Electric, urging Ibuka to send someone to
sign an agreement.
Totsuko had developed the tape and tape recorder all by itself, with no
technical support or advice from any company. Western Electric was
impressed by this fact and decided that a company with such engineering
expertise would make good use of their transistor patent.
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 | | Akio Morita on his trip to the United States. |
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In August 1953, Morita, who was to start out for a three-month tour of
American and European businesses, was asked to sign an agreement with
Western Electric. This was Morita's first trip abroad. "Why did Japan go
to war against such a big country?" was his candid impression of the
United States. The U.S. was so huge and entirely different from Japan in
every sense of the word. Totally surprised by everything he saw, Morita was
beginning to lose his self-confidence.
Yuzuru Tanigawa, Ibuka's old friend who had a long relationship with
Totsuko, had been sent to the New York branch of the Yamashita & New Japan
Steamship Company prior to Morita's arrival in the U.S. Tanigawa had heard
a lot in Japan about the transistor from Ibuka. "This is going to be a
major revolution. The transistor has all the functions of a vacuum tube.
It is small, but has a semipermanent life. We must do it by all means."
Ibuka's enthusiastic and passionate face was still vividly etched in
Tanigawa's mind when Morita arrived in New York.
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"Mr. Tanigawa, do you think Western Electric will see a Japanese like
me from such a nondescript company as Totsuko?" Morita asked faintly,
being in unusually low spirits. He was scheduled to visit the American
company the next day to explain how Totsuko had developed the tape and tape
recorder all by itself. But how could he negotiate with such a big company
as Western Electric, so large in comparison with Totsuko? The sheer
vastness of the U.S. having made him restless, Morita could not help but
come and see Tanigawa at his hotel.
"I'm afraid they really won't take this seriously tomorrow, so I may
give it up now," Morita confessed. "What are you saying? Americans
aren't like that," said Tanigawa.
"Whenever they find something interesting, they will just come out and tell you. This is where Americans
differ from Japanese. Besides, Mr. Yamada will be with you. In any event,
you have nothing to lose by trying," he added.
As he had done with Ibuka, Yamada accompanied Morita everywhere since
his arrival in New York because Morita could not then speak English.
With Tanigawa's encouragement and sense of security at having Yamada beside him,
Morita made up his mind. "Well, if you say so, I may go. Yes, I will."
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