August 22, 2010
When I was young, I was something of an audiophile…When Sony released the Walkman, I was among the first to buy one, and I used it fondly for many years…
What I cannot do without now is a pair of Sony earphones…When Sony’s engineers created these earphones, they did so with the aim: “If we are going to make them, let us pursue the very best in the world, a perfect sound that has never existed before”…
These earphones produce sound more wonderful than that of any expensive speakers, because they are free from the distortions caused by the air, the room, and so on…If you love music, I recommend them as an essential item for your travels.
If we are going to make something, let us make the very best in the world…That is surely the starting point of craftsmanship, or perhaps its ultimate goal…Because only as a result of that approach can we create something that makes the world marvel.
Where Sony has now fallen far behind Apple in the field of audio is in form and ease of operation…It has not lost at all in sound, and one could even say that it surpasses Apple.
It lost to Apple’s determination to create the world’s finest product, the ultimate in form and ease of operation…When I saw the first iPod product…the slim, rectangular one…I thought, “Ah, this is a serious development…Sony has lost”…Although I had only recently bought the latest cylindrical Walkman, which was almost the same size, I bought an iPod as well.
Sony’s sound was overwhelmingly better, but operating it by pressing and turning the controls at the top was cumbersome.
I believe that you, too, will never achieve greatness as a politician unless you deepen your studies with the ambition of becoming a politician of the highest world standard, representing Japan.
You will get nowhere if you concern yourself with the likes of the Japanese mass media.
Set your sights on the world standard.
In the field of sound, Japan has a superb product that is the best in the world…Yamaha’s cubic speakers.
In their ultimate form and ease of operation, lightness, sound quality, and price, they are the best in the world…
These beat Bose…Their size and lightness make them something you can carry on your travels.
Long ago, when two of the people connected with the Rome branch whom I mentioned earlier…all members of great aristocratic families in Rome…visited Japan, there was something they made sure to buy before leaving…
An audio product from Pioneer or somewhere.
They said, “In Europe, it is mostly Philips…The sound cannot compare with Japanese products…Japanese products are overwhelmingly superior.”
True craftspeople, throughout history and across the world, aim to be the very best in the world.