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
History of science and technology in Japan desktop calculator. The Sharp QT-8D, a desktop calculator released in 1969, was the first calculator to have its logic circuitry entirely implemented with LSI ("large-scale integration") integrated circuits (ICs) based on MOS ("metal-oxide-semiconductor") technology. Upon its introduction, it was one of the smallest electronic calculators ever produced commercially. The first portable calculators appeared in Japan in 1970, and were soon marketed around the world. These included the Sanyo ICC-0081 "Mini Calculator", the Canon Pocketronic, and the Sharp QT-8B "micro Compet". In January 1971, the Sharp EL-8 was close to being a pocket calculator, weighing about one pound, with a vacuum