History of science and technology in Japan at the Computer Technique Group, Japan, in 1967. The first electronic printer was the EP-101, invented by Japanese company Epson and released in 1968. The world's first inkjet printer was Casio's Typuter, released in 1971. Thermal transfer printing was invented by SATO corporation, a Japanese company. They produced the world's first thermal transfer label printer, SATO M-2311, in 1981. The concept of a single-chip microprocessor CPU (central processing unit) was conceived in a 1968 meeting in Japan between Sharp engineer Tadashi Sasaki and an unnamed female software engineering researcher from Nara Women's College. He discussed the concept at a brainstorming
Compact executive car Volvo S60 and V60 in the compact executive car sector. Fellow Swedish brand Saab introduced the 99 in 1968 and replaced it with the 90 in 1984. Under GM control and on GM's GM2900 platform (which also underpins cars like the Vauxhall Cavalier and Opel Vectra), SAAB introduced the 900 (NG) which evolved into the first generation 9-3 in 1998. Saab's last compact executive car was the second-generation 9-3 which was produced from 2003 to 2014. The Japanese luxury automobile market is rather young compared to the European and American markets. There are three main premium car brands in Japan: