Oral-History:Japanese Engineers

Japanese Engineers Oral History Project

The IEEE History Center and the History Committee of the IEE Japan collaborated on a project to record and edit oral history interviews with distinguished Japanese electrical engineers and managers. The interviews were conducted in English during 1994 by William Aspray. Japanese collaborators on the project were Dr. Yuzo Takahashi (Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology), Mr. Masahiro Maejima (National Science Museum), Mr. Eiju Matsumoto (Yokogawa Technology Museum). Mr. Kazuya Watanabe (TEPCO Museum Project/Tokyo Power Electric Co.), Mr. Shuichi Tsukahara (National Research Institute of Education), Dr. Takehiko Hashimoto (University of Tokyo), Mr. Takuji Okamoto (University of Tokyo), and Mr. Yasushi Kakihara (University of Tokyo). A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation aided in the collection of these interviews.

The number that follows the interviewee's name is the interview's oral history code number, which uniquely identifies the interview in the History Center's archive. Please use this number when referring to an oral history.

• Tetsuo Fujimura (#203) - Worked as the director of NGK Company in Japan, where the promotion of engineers to management enforces their belief that quality is paramount.
• Kazuo Itoh and Kenji Kazato (#199) - Founders of JEOL, which specializes in the design and manufacture of electron microscopes.
• Nobutoshi Kihara (#209) - A mechanical engineer employed by Sony. He is best known for his development of video tape recording technology.
• Makoto Kikuchi (#215) - A researcher in semiconductor physics and electronics who served as the Director of Sony’s Research Center.
• Yoshihiro Kyotani (#201) - An engineer who worked on Japanese National Railroad, including in the development of the Bullet Train.
• Fusao Mori (#214) - An electrical engineer who has worked in energy research and development.
• Tsuneo Nakahara (#205) - A communications engineer and long-time employee at Sumitomo Electric, where he served in several positions including as executive vice president.
• Heitaro Nakajima (#207) - A communications engineer at Sony and NHK who worked on the development of digital audio recording and CD technology.
• Shigeru Nakajima (#212) - Worked with magnetrons for communications and medical applications.
• Takanori Okoshi (#206) - A communications engineer who has worked on projects in optoelectronics and holography, planar circuits, and optical fiber communication.
• Shoichi Saba (#213) - President and chief executive of Toshiba.
• Tadashi Sasaki (#211) - Has led major accomplishments in the miniaturization and power optimization of small electronics, making the commercialization of liquid crystal display (LCD) technology possible.
• Masatoshi Shima (#197) - An electronics engineer who made important contributions to the development of the microprocessor.
• Ken'ichi Shinoda (#202) - An electrical engineer at the Fuji Electrical Company who contributed to the development of manganese and alkaline batteries.
• Michiyuki Uenohara (#198) - A communications engineer known for his work in semiconductors at Bell Labs.
• Sakae Yamamura (#210) - A Nicolas Tesla Medal winner who is known for his work on magnetic field driving of electrical arc, his work on analytical theory of the linear induction motor, his development of spiral vector theory, and his work on numerically controlled machine tools.
• Susumu Yoshida (#208) - An electrical engineer at Sony who made a significant contribution to the development of the Trinitron television display tube.