10 Japanese inventions that have changed our way of life

Japan : a land of tradition and culture, with a strong history dating back thousands of years but, in contemporary society, is also known for its modernity and innovation and changing the world in its way of living. Many of these invention-like innovations have shaped our lives in many good ways.

Tactile paving

Probably in your city you will find these yellow blocks covered on their surface by small dots and bumps on the streets. These tactile pavements are very useful for the visually impaired when they walk down the street by touching the blocks with their sticks to read the instructions and warnings given.

Electric rice cooker

It is one of the most indispensable kitchen utensils in Japanese cuisine. Before his invention, rice was cooked by placing well-rinsed grains in a pot and heating it over high heat.

To this day, electric rice cookers are already a part of most Japanese homes.

Shinkansen (Bullet Train)

The Bullet Train was born as “a super-fast wonder train” in celebration of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964. The first Shinkansen to enter service at that time was the Tokaido Shinkansen, which connected Tokyo and Shin-Osaka in approximately 4 hours. . This revolutionary innovation made it easy for people to travel from one big city to another in Japan at speeds of over 200 km/h. Currently, the Shinkansen is used not only by local residents, but also by tourists and businessmen coming from abroad.

Walkman

The Sony Walkman was the first portable music player in 1979. Back then, music was stored on cassette tapes or vinyl records. The Walkman made it possible to take it with you and listen to it at any time. Although other companies have now developed their version of this invention, the Walkman had a huge impact on the music industry and will always be remembered above all others.

Instant noodles

This is one of the inventions that has had a great impact on food culture. Nissin Foods founder Momofuku Ando developed “Chicken Ramen” as the solution to the post-war food crisis.

Although simply pouring boiling water over the noodles to cook, a great deal of time and money went into developing Chicken Ramen with a long list of prototypes. Currently, they are sold as “Cup Noodles” in many countries around the world and consumed by millions of people.

Laptop

The desktop PC was born in the US, but the notebook PC was invented by the Japanese company Toshiba in 1989 under the Toshiba “Dynabook” series name.

The novel

“The Story of Genji” is a work of literature written by Murasaki Shikibu , in the Heian period. It describes the love story and the glory and fall of the main character Hikaru Genji .

His literature was well received at the time and soon became very popular among the aristocracy. Later, in the Edo period, picture scrolls and other works based on “The Story of Genji” were created.

“The Story of Genji” is considered the first known complete novel by modern standards and will always have a deep place in Japanese culture.

Blue LED lights

Although red and yellow-green LEDs had already been invented in the US, three Japanese scientists managed to invent a blue LED light, which brought together the three primary colors red, blue and yellow-green, increasing the range of colors available in LEDs giving it more versatility. in their functions. Currently, LED lights are used not only for room lighting, but also in various places such as traffic signals.

Vehicle navigation system

The world’s first car navigation system was developed by Honda in 1981. At that time, GPS was not as widely available and it is said that it was not easy to use as it required setting the current location correctly before use.

However, little by little, navigation systems for cars with GPS were created, adding a function to provide routes, which facilitated their use and distribution.

DVD and Blu-ray discs

Its development began with a request from the Hollywood industry in the US to develop a low-cost optical disc that had the capacity to store a single high-quality movie.

Initially, Sony and Philips (already leading the CD standard at the time) began development. Meanwhile, Toshiba had already started the development of a new optical disc as well and sought cooperation from Matsushita Electric Industrial (now Panasonic) which had strong video development technology and developed its own optical disc.

Soon enough, other electronics companies began to support Toshiba and Matsushita products as well. It was created using technology from Sony and Philips with the help of Panasonic and Toshiba.