Akio Morita Essay

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Personal Life Akio Morita was born on January 26, 1921, the first son of Kyusaemon and Shuko Morita, in the small village of Kosugaya near Nagoya, Japan. If he had followed the traditional family occupation, he would have been the fifteenth-generation heir to his family’s sake brewing business. Influenced by his mother’s love for classical music, he became interested in electronics and sound reproduction while listening to her RCA Victrola record player. Morita became so interested in electronics that he built his own ham radio and almost flunked out of school due to his disinterest in anything but electronics. After returning diligently to his studies for a year, he entered the very prestigious Eighth Higher School as a physics major. Rather than be drafted at the beginning of World War II, Morita entered Osaka Imperial University, agreeing to serve in the navy following his graduation. At the university, he assisted his professors in research for the Japanese Imperial Navy. In 1944, Morita earned a degree in physics and was immediately commissioned as a lieutenant in the engineering corps for the Japanese Imperial Navy. While in the navy, he conducted research at the Aviation Technology Center into thermal guided weapons and night-vision gunsights. There he met Masura Ibuka, an electronics engineer that was 13 years his senior. They became good friends and would eventually co-found Sony Corporation. Morita married Yoshiko Kamei on May 13, 1950; they had three children: Hideo, Masao, and Naoko. In 1987, Morita wrote Made In Japan, a historical biography that was considered to be one of the greatest resources for students considering a career in business. Two years later, he co-authored The Japan That Can Say “NO,” a book that drew a great deal of criticism in the United States. In addition to commenting on the quality of American products, Morita also

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