The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-25
JAPANESE ADOPT
OCCIDENTAL WAYS
Office Machinery Finds Its
Way Into Business Houses
Of Flowery Kingdom.

KOBE. Oct. with the growth OF
modern business in Japan there has come
some demand for more efficient methods
OF office management This demand.
however, has been retarded by the lack
of capital on the part of the average
Japanese firm and ignorance of the uses
of many of the appliances in use in the
United States. Consequently the more
recent inventions and improvements OF
office machinery and equipment are to be
found in the offices of only few of the
foreign and large Japanese firms, while
many of them, such as the photograph,
photograph, stereotype and signograph
are not only not in use but practically
unknown.
The most used machinery consists OF
the telephone. typewriter and cash reg
lister, but one rarely sees an adding ma
chine Modern desks and other once
furniture are also being adopted to a
limited extent. though much OF this
equipment is locally manufactured to
order.
The typewriters which enjoy the
largest sales In the United States are
also the most popular In Japan. and
practically all the standard makes are
represented. The price OF all these
standard machines is In the neighoor-
hood OF ESQ yen ($125. about. When
taking into consideration freight charges
and the import duty of "a yen per loo
kin (S35.27 per 100 pounds 1t Will be
observed that these machines are re-
tailed for less than In the United States,
Apparently no active effort has been
made to sell facory rebuilt typewriters
in Kobe or Osaka, although 1t wouio
seem that line Of rebuilt standard ma
chimes, pushed by a live concern. out to
do we'll.
Few European typewriters are found
on this market, the majority being sup
piled by the United States. Typewrlters
for this market should be OF standaru
keyboard, single shift. equipped WITH
plea type. ten spaces to the inch. Port
able models, with universal two shin
keyboards are also In demand
In 1917 Japan imported typewrters
TO the value OF 1925, 1876; In 1918 the
value rose to $163,396, and in 1915
reached $1Sl,497. This comparatively
large business is done in machines fol
the English language. which is used al
most exclusively in conducting japanese
international trade. Several typewriter!
! have been designed and are sold fol
writing japanese. These machines, how
ever. which must necessarily be equipped
with type to write hundreds OF differen
characters, are entirely different iron
any machine used In the United States
1t is impra cticable to equip STANDARD
typewriter for writing Japanese or Chi
nese.
considerable amount OF duplicat'n'
work Is performed but relatively few
| "a LETTERS
English are OF little use in foreign trad
and the Japanese language is used 10
local purposes. For this reason tn
gelatin type Of dupllcator is In mos
general use. Most of these machine
are locally manufactured and retail!
prices from 81 up. according % size an
quality. High priced machines do no
find n ready sale.
In attempting to introduce their add
! ing machines In Japan. American manu-
facturers will have to meet the competi
ton of the worlds original and cheapes
adding. subtracting. multiplying an
dividing machine, the abacus, or, as II
called in Japan. the "soroban.' Tines
little contrivances. made OF balls or WOO
on wires, in a wooden frame, cost i
Japan from 10 cents up. and every mar
woman and child in the country know
Mt least the elements OF operating one
1t is said that an expert on one can com
pute faster than an expert on an Ameri
can adding machine, but the adding ma
chine is undoubtedly preferable. as TIL
results can be checked, while with tn
soroban the only method Of checking, |
TO do il over again. However. In Japan
where labor and time are OF compare
lively little value. boy with "soro
ban" is certainly cheaper than traine'
clerk with an expensive adding machine
Consequently. although machine is DC
casionary sold. American manufactures
have not found ready market for thei
products. Because OF the non-hstlh
features of the computing machine Uni
type of adder finds even less SAFE ina
the standard listing machines. no sta
tistics of importation are available