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Morita was out of breath when he returned to Tanigawa's hotel and said
to his friend, who had been waiting eagerly to hear the result of the
meeting, "Well, it went all right." The Western Electric response was
positive, and Tanigawa had never seen such a delighted look on Morita's
face before.
Totsuko had yet to obtain approval from MITI in Japan, so Morita
hastened to sign a provisional agreement contingent upon MITI's approval.
On this occasion, the Western Electric engineers said to Morita, "The
transistor is a very fascinating thing. At this stage, however, it can
only be used for audio purposes. You can make hearing aids or something
like that. Yes, you should make hearing aids when you go back to Japan,"
they strongly recommended. Morita just answered, "Well, yes," though he did not see much potential for hearing aids, regardless of how he looked
at the market.
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The Totsuko-Western Electric agreement did not cover technology. So
after signing the provisional agreement Morita went about gathering as much
reference material as possible on the transistor, hoping that it would
prove useful in Japan. Upon finishing his business in the U.S., Morita
started out for his next destination -Europe.
Morita's first stop was Germany. Although like Japan, Germany had been
defeated in the war, it boasted a great technological heritage. Morita was
plagued by the same inferiority complex in Germany as he had felt in the
U.S. "Will Totsuko ever be able to develop worldwide markets in
competition with American and German companies?" he wondered. Morita,
who had been so ambitious about one day launching Totsuko products
worldwide, began to take a rather pessimistic view.
In low spirits, Morita took a train from Germany to Holland, the
birthplace of Philips. In Holland Morita felt comfortable enough to relax.
Holland was a small agricultural country where people were riding bicycles
everywhere. "It somehow resembles Japan," Morita thought, feeling
nostalgic. There was almost no industry in Holland at the time -it was a
country still dependent on agriculture. One could find the word 'Holland'
written on eggs sold all over Europe. Morita fully appreciated that Philips
was headquartered in this small country and was exerting a worldwide sales
influence from there.
After arriving in Europe, Morita realized how big Japan was. Of course,
Japan was a small country compared with the U.S., but in Europe a jet plane
could take you from one country to another in an hour or so, and a
four-hour train ride in Holland could take you beyond its border.
Though located in the remote countryside, Philips exerted great
influence on the world electronics industry. Until Dr. Philips started his
business there, Eindhoven had been a rather small, rural town. Beginning
with the manufacture of electric light bulbs, Dr. Philips created the
Philips empire in a remote locality which had no industrial history. "What has been done by Dr. Philips can be done by us. We have a chance to rise
too." Suddenly, deep courage began to fill Morita's heart.
Morita wrote to Ibuka from Holland saying, "I am deeply encouraged by the sight of Philips and am fully convinced that we too can sell our
products all over the world."
Upon returning to Japan from his three-month trip, Morita reported to
Ibuka immediately on his meeting with Western Electric. "Let's make
something with the transistor. If we can produce transistors, that will
give us a great opportunity. Western Electric strongly recommends that we
make hearing aids. But what do you think?" Ibuka did not think hearing
aids were a good idea either.
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