Q 01/05

Which two men founded the company that became Sony in 1946?

A) Goro Yoshida and Saburo Uchida

B) Konosuke Matsushita and Akio Morita

C) Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita

D) Tokuji Hayakawa and Toshio Iue

Answer · why

C) Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita

Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita reconnected after the war when Morita saw a newspaper article about Ibuka's new radio business in Tokyo.

Q 02/05

What did Sony's original Japanese company name mean in English?

A) Tokyo Transistor Manufacturing Company

B) Tokyo Tape and Radio Works Limited

C) Tokyo Technical Industries Incorporated

D) Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation

Answer · why

D) Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation's first attempt at a home product was a crude electric rice cooker made of electrodes in a wooden tub...

Q 03/05

Which product was the Type-G, made by the company that became Sony?

A) A wire recorder

B) Japan's earliest tape recorder

C) An electrically heated cushion

D) A black-and-white television

Answer · why

B) Japan's earliest tape recorder

Japan's earliest tape recorder, the Type-G, came only after the company worked out how to make its own magnetic recording tape.

Q 04/05

Why did the founders reject the initials TTK as a brand name?

A) A railway firm used similar initials

B) A radio rival already used TTK

C) The letters meant something rude

D) Japan's government banned initials

Answer · why

A) A railway firm used similar initials

A railway firm used similar initials, and Americans stumbled over the nickname 'Totsuko', so the founders set out to find a short, easy brand name.

Q 05/05

The name Sony combines the Latin 'sonus' with which American slang word?

A) Sunny

B) Sonic

C) Sonny

D) Sound

Answer · why

C) Sonny

In 1950s Japan 'sonny boys' meant smart, presentable young men, which the founders reckoned they were.