The inventors of the toshaban envisioned a world market for their creation. After all, it can be used anywhere, since it does not require electricity, and taken everywhere, since it is compact and portable. The seeds sown in Japan germinated in China and Southeast Asia, and the toshaban culture continues to spread even today. The toshaban , the simple printing device offered for sale in 1894, took Japan by storm, and then crossed the Pacific to other Asian nations, where it received a warm welcome. Even women and children can print more than 1,000 pages in one hour.
Characters print more clearly than when they are typeset.
No other printing machine can match the toshaban , which may be purchased with the utmost confidence. This copy, part of an introductory message from Horii Shinjiro, the inventor of the toshaban , is a bit hyperbolic, but the toshaban became popular abroad because of the very features he extols. Realizing that Japan would soon be moving toward modernization, Horii and his son formulated a business strategy for a machine that would penetrate both overseas and Japanese markets. Two years after the toshaban was offered for sale, the Horiis had secured agents to handle their product in San Francisco, Vladivostok, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. They opened a branch office in Shanghai in 1911, and an agency in Seoul the following year.