There is a particular novel that has become very popular in Japan. It is the story of a small downtown factory whose technological capability and strong sense of unity allows it to build parts for a rocket that even a giant corporation with leading-edge technology is not able to produce. The story is so popular that it was turned into a television drama which has been aired many times, but it is not just an impossible dream by any means. It is a fact that even small factories in Japan sometimes possess outstanding technological capabilities.
Japan SME’s technology keeps you safe
Are you familiar with Japan’s shinkansen? Shinkansen trains travel at speeds of 300 km/h, depart from major stations in Japan every few minutes with huge numbers of passengers on board, and serve as an essential means of transportation supporting the Japanese economy and lifestyle. It is not hard to imagine the magnitude of the disaster that could occur if even one nut on a shinkansen were to come loose. Actually, the company that makes the nuts used on shinkansen is a small town factory with 90 employees. Nuts manufactured by this company are used on railroads in countries including the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia, China, Taiwan, and South Korea, and also recently in the structure of Japan's 634-m tall Sky Tree.
The try something new every day challenge
There is a company in Japan that manufactures small precision plastic parts, which has the technology to produce gears which are one millionth of a gram in weight. A gear which is one millionth of a gram is so miniscule that its diameter is only 0.147 mm, and a case containing 20,000 of them would appear to contain nothing but dust if viewed with the naked eye. These tiny gears are made by a Japanese small/medium-sized company with 70 employees and annual sales of 2.8 billion yen. In fact, these gears are so small that they have not yet found any application, but a development cost of 200 million yen was allocated to produce them as a way of promoting the company as having such advanced technological skill.
On one occasion, this company was approached by the world-famous company Sony about a matter of parts production. To the surprise of Sony’s representatives, the president of this company had created trial samples even before the details of the specifications were explained to him, and the Sony personnel asked him in shock, “Where did this information get leaked from?” Apparently, the president had heard rumors that various manufacturers had a desire to create smaller VCRs and video cameras, so he developed design samples ahead of time. As a result, it was decided that this company would supply 100% of those parts to Sony.
To make everyone love injections
No one likes to get an injection, but they are even more trying for patients with illnesses that require several injections to be made every day. One company in Japan has created hypodermic needles that do not hurt when used for injections. It is a company in downtown Tokyo, with only six employees.
When a mosquito punctures the skin to draw blood, its needlelike mouth parts are so thin that they do not cause pain. This prompted the company to think about developing a needle for injections that was similarly thin and smooth. The painless needle has a tapered shape to facilitate the flow of the injected medicine, with a length of 20 mm. The needle tip has an outer diameter of 0.2 mm, and the extremely narrow hole in the needle has an inner diameter of 0.06 mm. This company has submitted patents across the world jointly with a major medical equipment manufacturer, and is planning to produce one billion units a year.
Many Japanese companies listed on Alibaba.com possess remarkable and outstanding technological capabilities.
Please take a look at products made by companies using Japan’s latest advanced technology.
