Q 01/05

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

A) Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa

B) Konosuke Matsushita and Akio Morita

C) Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita

D) Norio Ohga and Ken Kutaragi

Answer · why

C) Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita

Ibuka opened an electronics shop in a Tokyo department store; Morita joined him on 7 May 1946.

Q 02/05

What did the company's original Japanese 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

It began with capital of ¥190,000 and eight employees.

Q 03/05

What was the company's early product called the Type-G?

A) A pocket transistor radio

B) Japan's earliest tape recorder

C) An electric rice cooker

D) A black-and-white television

Answer · why

B) Japan's earliest tape recorder

The founders realised early they needed a short brand name to sell abroad.

Q 04/05

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

A) A railway company was already known as TTK

B) It sounded too much like a Chinese brand

C) Americans could not pronounce the letters

D) The company's bank objected to initials

Answer · why

A) A railway company was already known as TTK

'Totsuko' and 'Tokyo Teletech' were also tried and dropped.

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.