Toshio Kashio, an inventor and the cofounder of Casio Computer Co., who developed many hit products as the "brain of Casio," had a ceaseless passion for creation.
Casio, now headquartered in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, was founded by four Kashio brothers. Toshio, who died in 2012 at the age of 87, was the second eldest.
In 2013, part of his house in a quiet area of Tokyo's Seijo district was opened as the Toshio Kashio Memorial Museum of Invention. On display are desktop calculators, watches and electronic musical instruments among the many items he invented.
The four brothers laid the foundation for the company by demonstrating their personalities and abilities: Tadao, the eldest, in the field of finance and metal processing; Toshio in research and development; Kazuo in sales; and Yukio in production.
A biography of Thomas Edison that Toshio read when he was 6 years old inspired him to become an inventor. He headed the firm's development division for a long time.
The foyer of the museum, with a massive chandelier hanging from a stained glass ceiling, is larger than the living room of an ordinary home.
Following the corridor inside, an exhibit room displays the 14-A all-electric compact calculator, which is said to be the starting point of Casio.
When the calculator was released in 1957, mechanical calculators made with turning gears were more common. However, the 14-A calculator was highly valued for its computing speed and quiet operation, and thus banks and other business operators introduced the device, which looked like an office desk.
The next exhibit room displays the first personal calculator in the world, the Casio Mini, which came out in 1972. Though electronic calculators had been used mainly in companies, the development of the Casio Mini allowed for their use to spread to ordinary households as well.
Visitors also can watch a video of TV commercial for the Casio Mini that popularized the catchphrase "Kotae Ippatsu" (getting a quick answer).
"When visitors see the commercial and get excited, I know they're over 45 years old," Kaoru Someya, 64, deputy director of the museum, said with a smile.
There is fine mahogany furniture in Toshio's study, a room with Italian marble walls and a garden view. Toshio is said to have devoted himself entirely to his inventions, spending more time in this room than at the firm.
Toshio's first major invention, the "Yubiwa Pipe" attracts the attention of visitors in the room. It is a ring-mounted cigarette holder, allowing people to smoke their cigarettes down to the very nub.
They sold well enough to cover the cost of developing calculators. Toshio himself was a tobacco lover.
"Create useful things for society. Making money is not our purpose," Toshio told his employees -- which sometimes annoyed those working in the firm's sales department, according to the museum.
Signs of a genius who never lost his passion for creation are found in the products and places in the building.
-- Toshio Kashio Memorial Museum of Invention
In addition to electric calculators, displays include the Casio G-Shock watch and electronic musical instruments. Reservations are needed. An about 15-minute walk from Seijogakuenmae Station on the Odakyu Line.
Address: 4-19-10 Seijo, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo
Open: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Closing days are not fixed.
Admission: free
Information: https://kashiotoshio.org/
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