42) Bringing US/Japan Experts Together with Okinawan Cuisine
Robert Noyce and Japanese semiconductor experts at a social gathering, when
Noyce visited Japan in 1971
Robert Noyce, thought to be the enemy of Japanese companies at the front of
the US-Japan semiconductor war, would break into a smile to try to sell their
products to Japanese customers and talked passionately about technology, regardless
of time.
Noyce attended a social gathering with Japanese semiconductor experts when
he came to Japan in 1971. In the photo, Noyce sits in the center of the front
row, with Yasuo Tarui second from the left. In the back row, from the left
are Junichi Nishizawa, Takuo Sugano, Seiichi Denda, and Shimura.
The venue was an Okinawan restaurant in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. It was chosen because
Noyce, who played the oboe and cello, said, "I want to have a chance
to listen to the sound of the jabisen (Okinawan instrument, similar to the
shamisen)". In the previous year, he was captivated by the sound of the
koto at a restaurant in the Gion district of Kyoto, where he was invited by
Kazuo Inamori of Kyocera. The next day, he bought a koto as a souvenir to
take back to the Silicon Valley.
One day when we were talking about music, Noyce said, "Everyone involved
in electronics has a good sense of music."
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