The Japanese typewriter was invented in 1915 and most versions can print about 3000 different Chinese and Japanese characters. Until around 1980, almost all formal documents at government and company offices were produced using this machine. Only specially trained typists can use the typewriter, however, and even they can not type very rapidly. Until recently, therefore, the ordinary person had to write everything by hand.
The first Japanese language word processor was developed in 1978, taking advantage of the dramatic advances made during the 1970s in computer, LSI, kanji (Chinese character) printer and other electronic technologies. The most remarkable feature of this machine is that it enables a touch typist to instantaneously convert characters input from a 50 character katakana keyboard or a 26 character alphabetic keyboard into as many as 6700 different kanji characters. With this system, even the ordinary person is able to master the use of a highly efficient typewriter with a wide range of functions. What is more, the machine amounts to an entry level piece of office automation (OA) equipment and opens the was OA literacy (the ability to input and output Japanese language information) to the average person.
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