We Were Burning: Japanese Entrepreneurs & the Forging of the Electronic Age

The commercialization of semiconductor technologies, largely dominated by Japan, brought us such marvels as hand calculators, quartz watches, liquid crystal displays and TVs, camcorders and synthesizers, improved solar cells and lasers, light-emitting diodes, CD players and printers. Journalist Johnstone, who has written for Wired, is clearly well versed in the history of electronic technology and takes us device-by-device ""from invention through commercial application."" The narrative encompasses the evolution of dynamic firms such as Sony, Canon, Casio, Seiko and Sharp, and key research contributions of scientists from Bell Labs, RCA and other U.S. companies. Johnstone explains how brave, motivated visionaries in mid-level Japanese companies consistently managed to capitalize on discoveries of U.S. research that rivals were unable to bring to market. He flatly contradicts a prevalent view that Japanese industry owes its technological success to monolithic government-sponsored consortia that took perhaps undue advantage of the West. Rather, Johnstone identifies vital individuals and pivotal company policies, weaving material from about a hundred interviews into an account seasoned with biographical sketches and remarks from the oral histories that capture the flavors of research environments and entrepreneurial management. Comprehensive, smartly written and accessible to the lay reader, this book provides a definitive--virtually encyclopedic--account of how the Japanese consumer electronic industry won the world. (Dec.)