As an American, to peer into the world of Japanese personal computers in the 1980s is to look into a beautiful, stylish, yet somewhat odd parallel universe of computing history. During that era, the Land of the Rising Sun brimmed with numerous distinctive home computing machines, many of which were never sold in the U.S.
As I researched these Japanese PCs recently, I was struck by the artistry, whimsy, and sometimes wackiness (from an American perspective) of the advertisements that showcased these machines. Japan seems to thrive with playfulness and creativity unbound, and their computer industry in the 1980s was no exception.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a handful of wacky and wonderful Japanese PC ads of the 1980s.
1. Sharp X1 (1982)
(Photo: Sharp)
2. Fujitsu FM Towns (1989)
Just kidding; it's only a wacky ad.
(Photo: Fujitsu)
3. NEC PC-8201A (1983)
In this ad, it appears a young American male is robbing a sexy woman, who, in panic, drops her laptop into the hands of a Japanese businessman. If there is latent symbolism here, I don't want to know what it is.
(Photo: NEC / Special Thanks V.Valenti)
4. NEC PC-9801 Models (1988)
(Photo: NEC)
5. Canon V-20 (198x)
In all seriousness, the V-20 was one of the first machines in the MSX architecture, a standard which would later dominate the low-end of the Japanese PC market. And in all seriousness, that hair is awesome.
(Photo: Canon)
6. Fujitsu FM-77 (1984)
(Photo: Fujitsu / Special Thanks V.Valenti)
7. Sony HitBit HB-F1XD (1987)
Right?
(Photo: Sony)
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