Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse the characteristics of the early radio receiver industry in Japan. Broadcasting in Japan was started in 1925 by non-profit foundations. Unlike the U. S. and the U. K., therefore, it had no links with the receiver manufacturing industry. However, as the beginning of broadcasting caused a sharp increase in the demand for radio apparatus, many enterprises and individuals began to make receivers and other parts. While big enterprises were involved, there were also many small companies, and in addition, radio hobbyists who made their own receivers. Japanese receivers were basically imitations of foreign products, because several big companies were technically tied up with foreign companies and small companies often imitated foreign products and sometimes even faked them. Because the consumer could not estimate exactly the contents of the radio products and preferred cheaper goods, the market was flooded with cheap but inferior goods. As a result, the influential companies,whose products were superior but more expensive, were driven out of the market. The early radio industry was then exclusively composed of small companies, which was peculiar to Japan. It means that the market of the early Japanese radio industry did not function properly.
