Sharp’s 100th Anniversary Celebration

Sharp Corporation was founded and incorporated in 1912. This year, they are celebrating their 100th Anniversary. Most of us would be familiar with the Sharp brand as provider of electrical instruments and home appliances. However, not many know that Sharp started NOT as an electronic company.
Founded on September 15, 1912, A young man of 19 years old named Tokuji Hayakawa leased a house in the center of Tokyo and set himself up in business. At just 19 years of age, he started his own small metalworking shop; he went on to become the founder of Sharp Corporation.

Photo from Sharp 100th Anniversary Facebook Page. Like NOW!

Naturally inventive, Sharp started as a business to produce Belt Metal Buckle! With only 50 Yen shared among three friends, they started mass production of the belt and recovered their cost within the first month. By the end of the first year, they are 120 Yen in the black. When everyone was still relying on traditional ways of doing things, Sharp has invested in a 1horsepower machine to start mass producing their products and be ahead of competitions.

Taken from History of Sharp

Little do many know that the modern day's mechanical pencil were actually improvised by Sharp back in the 1915. The humble pencil became an iconic symbol for Sharp as they are named the Ever-Sharp Pencil, this first product marks the true genesis of Sharp Corporation. Today the Sharp name and trademark are recognized around the world -- all thanks to an ingenious refinement made to one of mankind's oldest and most valued tools, the pencil.

Photo from Sharp100years.com

From then onward, Sharp has stayed ahead of all other competitors and has made many "first". A full historical of Sharp Corporation could be read and appreciated in the Sharp Corporate website or you can simple go over to the Sharp100years.com for a learning experience.
Growing up, the brand name Sharp is as synonymous as famous Japanese brands that sell electrical appliances. I fondly recall playing with my dad's old calculator that has the print out as he was an account clerk. I definitely do not know what model that was, but i recalled it looked similar to something below.

Photo taken from MyCalcDB. Model EL8180 shown

As the Video boom came, more houses were equipped with the Video Cassette Recorder or VCR as they call it. I remember fondly how the family gathered around the Television hooked up to a Sharp VCR player to see movies. Those were the days when things were much simpler and mechanically, fixable. Even the tape counter were analog as opposed to digital where you reset the counter every time the movie starts so that in an event you stop the show and someone rewinded the video tape, you can still get back to roughly the last viewed scene just looking on the analog counter.
Much has changed since 1912 for Sharp. The 100th Year Milestone speaks volume of how the brand name and products has evolved. Visionary in their own right, Sharp has always pride itself with "making products that others want to imitate" And that is how Sharp pledges to continue making creative and high-quality products for the next 100 years. 

Tokuji Hayakawa Speech

In conjunction with the Sharp 100 Years celebration, a campaign has been launched where Sharp wants you dear readers to share your anniversary or anniversaries photos and/or videos. 

These submitted images and videos will be placed in the Sharp 100 Years website and they will be made into a work of film. The teaser to call for entry looked like the short video clip below.

The competition starts from June 16 and will end September 15, 2012. Participants will come from countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, U.A.E.
Photos and Videos can be shared at the Sharp100Years.com website here.

Upon approval by the Contest Management, your photos will appear and he general public can VOTE. Winners will be judged based on the amount of "LIKE" or "VOTE" received. So, the more you post, the higher the chances your photos might be VOTED.

The prizes for this competition is superb with a chance to win a trip to West Coast, USA and Sharp fantastic products.

The wide usage of social media has been embraced by Sharp. Twitter users and Facebook users will have their field days too by hash-tagging their tweets with #Sharp100 or go over to the Facebook page set up for this event here, LIKE them and share the joy of your anniversary much like how Sharp is sharing their Sharp 100 Years Anniversary!