This year, 2024, marks the 60th anniversary of Sharp’s calculator business. There is a museum in Osaka featuring our first calculator, released 60 years ago. It is called the “Entrepreneurial Museum of Challenges and Innovation.” Osaka has long prospered as a merchant town, giving birth to many companies. The Osaka Entrepreneurs Museum is located in the heart of Osaka, just a 5-minute walk from Sakaisuji-Honmachi Station on the Osaka Metro Sakaisuji Line. I recently visited the museum to see the calculator exhibition, and I would like to share my experience with you.

Additionally, the development story and history of our calculators are featured in a separate article (The Shining 60-Year History of Calculators: What Is Your Memorable Calculator?). Please check that out as well.

First, I will introduce the route from the nearest station to the museum for people like me who get lost even with a smartphone.

Upon arriving at Sakaisuji-Honmachi Station on the Osaka Metro, proceed along the corridor towards Exit 12.

After exiting from Exit 12, turn around and walk along the passage on your left.

Continue walking for about 5 minutes, and you will see a distinctive building with a monument of a ship heading towards the sky appearing before you. Upon later research, I found out that it is the Business Innovation Center Osaka, a facility supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.

Next to it, there’s a stylish building which is the entrance to the Osaka Entrepreneurs Museum. The museum is located underground.

The Osaka Entrepreneurs Museum opened in 2001 and features a permanent exhibition of 105 entrepreneurs representative of the Kansai region, including Sharp founder, Tokuji Hayakawa. It offers audio guides in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.

As I ventured further inside, I found it. The exhibition of Sharp founder, Tokuji Hayakawa. The early representative product, Ever Ready Sharp Pencil, is also on display.

Here, the calculator that was the purpose of my visit was displayed directly in front of me. It is the world’s first all-transistor electronic desktop calculator, commonly known as Compet , which our company released 60 years ago in 1964. It weighs a whopping 25 kg and was priced at 535,000 yen, comparable to the price of a car at that time. It has been recognized as an “Information Processing Technology Heritage” by the Information Processing Society of Japan, as a historical product demonstrating the development of information processing technology in Japan.

I hope that by viewing this large calculator, you can envision the compact calculators we have today and appreciate the advancements humanity has made over the past 60 years.

The Compet, CS-10A, is also displayed at our Sharp Museum located in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture. You can also find many more products that have shaped our history.

Please visit both museums as well.

Tom, Public Relations

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Reference Links:

Sharp Museum

Sharp Blog : The Shining 60-Year History of Calculators: What Is Your Memorable Calculator?

Entrepreneurial Museum of Challenges and Innovation

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