SANYO

Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (三洋電機株式会社) was a Japanese consumer electronics corporation founded on April 1, 1947, by Toshio Iue (井植歳男), brother-in-law of Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita. The name “San-yo” (三洋) translates as “three oceans” - Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian - reflecting the ambition to sell worldwide. Headquarters were in Moriguchi and later Daito, Osaka. In 2009 SANYO was acquired by Panasonic and the brand was gradually phased out by 2012.

Throughout the Showa era (1970s-80s) SANYO held a strong position in Japanese portable audio. The signature line was “Osharena Tereco” (おしゃれなテレコ, “fashionable cassette recorders”): U4, V8, the flagship MR-X920, and the Double U4 with dual cassette decks. In 1982 SANYO launched the Twin Liner WMR-C25 with 2.5x high-speed dubbing, and later the 4WD Surround U4 flagship with a detachable subwoofer and built-in TV stereo tuner (音声多重放送) - one of the first boomboxes in Japan to receive multiplex TV stereo broadcast directly. The JJ Body Stereo series (MR-JJ II, 1983-85) introduced wearable players with body-facing speakers. In home karaoke, SANYO was among the leaders: BIGVOCAL PAT-40, PAT-120, and PAT-K100 flagship systems with 100-point vocal scoring.

SANYO’s 1980s covers are a living chronicle of its advertising campaigns: a western model in a red swimsuit (1981 series), the mysterious GINA NANA (ジーナ・ナナ) on four catalogs from 1984-85 - her name is printed right on the covers, yet nobody has managed to figure out who she actually was in the forty years since. From 1986 to 1988 the face of SANYO was idol and actress Saori Yagi (八木 さおり) on at least seven catalogs; her name is also openly credited, but unlike GINA NANA, Yagi is a documented figure - gravure model, pop singer, later a working actress. The era closes with the Heat Beat ‘90 campaign (1989) featuring Whitney Houston on the cover of the general catalog.