14/10/2025
Before PlayStation, Walkman, or Trinitron TVs, Sony was just a small post-war startup called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation), founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita.
Japan was rebuilding from WWII, and consumer technology barely existed. The founders’ first invention? A wooden electric rice cooker — simple wires in an aluminum pot that cooked unevenly, often burning rice on one side while leaving the other half raw.
It failed commercially, but it taught Sony two lifelong lessons: innovation through experimentation and never fearing failure. By 1955, they created Japan’s first transistor radio, and later the world’s first portable music player, the Walkman — transforming Sony into a global icon of creativity.
That humble rice cooker still sits in Sony’s corporate museum today, a symbol of persistence and vision. From kitchen gadget to entertainment empire, Sony’s story proves that greatness often begins with imperfect experiments — and the courage to dream beyond them.
