Tokuji Hayakawa

Tokuji Hayakawa began an apprenticeship in metalworking as a child and opened his own workshop in Tokyo in 1912. His early inventions included the Tokubijo belt buckle and the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, from which the later Sharp company took its name.

After the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed his factory, Hayakawa rebuilt in Osaka and moved into radio manufacturing. He repeatedly backed emerging technologies, guiding the company into broadcasting equipment, televisions, calculators, semiconductors and solar cells.

Hayakawa's principle of creating products that others would want to imitate remained central as Sharp entered computing. The company's calculator and semiconductor expertise helped lead to the MZ series of personal computers introduced near the end of his lifetime.