Kansai: Innovations From the Home of Karaoke

1. Before you read. Group Discussion

1. Which of these inventions do you think are useful?
2. Which could you do without?
3. Which of them do you dislike or do not use?
4. If you could choose only one of these things, what would it be and why?

a. PC – personal computer
b. Television
c. Hi-tech trainers
d. CD-player
e. Walkman
f. Microwave oven
g. Automatic dishwasher
h. Karaoke
i. Car

2. Read the text.

In 1971, Daisuke Inoue, an amateur electone (electric organ) player at a Kobe club whose speciality was accompanying singing customers was asked to go to a year-end office party to play for one of the club’s regular customers.
Instead of going to the party, Mr. Inoue recorded a taped accompaniment. He later founded a company, Crescent, which rented to clubs in the Kobe area tapes of popular song accompaniments and speaker boxes equipped with echo devices designed to make the singer’s voice sound better.
From this, karaoke (literally “empty orchestra”) became a household word in Japan and the world. Surprisingly, Inoue now runs a company which makes insect traps but it was Crescent which provided the seed from which karaoke was born, though it took others to introduce many improvements to the system.
Sharp, an Osaka-based electronics manufacturer, represents a very different model of Kansai innovation. Founded in 1915 to make propelling pencils, it built Japan’s first mass-production radio receiver in 1925, its first television set in 1953, and in late 1960s, became the first Japanese company to market electronic calculators, beating Tokyo’s Casio Computer Company.
The company’s main strength is liquid crystal display technology used, for example, in the LCD Viewcam, a video camera. As a technological leader in consumer electronics, Sharp has a record which bears comparison with household names from the neighbouring Kanto region – and a history that goes further back than any of its Kanto competitors.
Tatsuo Yamamoto, director general of the Kansai New Business Conference, is certain the Kansai region can and will produce more Sharps, but he recognises a big problem: as is the case in Kanto, innovation in the financial sector has failed to keep up with progress in manufacturing and services.
To encourage a more risk-oriented attitude among investors, and to introduce the idea of business “angels”, his group hopes to open a venture university which would offer courses for wealthy individuals on how to invest in emerging companies. If it materialises, Mr. Yamamoto’s plan will be yet another example of Kansai setting a trend that the rest of Japan might want to follow.

From the Financial Times

3. What do these figures refer to?

1. 1925;
2. 1953;
3. 1971;
4. 1960s

4. All the statements in this exercise are false. Reread the article if necessary and correct these statements about Mr. Inoue:

1. Mr. Inoue still makes karaoke machines today.
2. He started a company to make karaoke machines.
3. He invented karaoke as we know it today.
4. He accepted an invitation to accompany one of the club’s members at an end-of-year party.
5. He was a professional organist at a club.

5. Find all the irregular verbs in the text and compose sentences of your own using them.

6. Find out all the adjectives in the text and give their three degrees of comparison.

7. Guess who is meant:

1. _________ – the boss of the company.
2. _________ – the one who produces things.
3. _________ – the one who is the first to make some new device.
4. _________ – not a professional.
5. _________ – a person with a good voice (usually =) to perform songs.

8. Find in the text words and expressions that mean:

1. rich – _________
2. growing firms – _________
3. starting a tendency – _________
4. a project – _________
5. ready to take risks – _________
6. an academic institution for investors – _________

9. Explain these words in English:

1. innovation – _________
2. progress – _________
3. model – _________
4. customer – _________
5. attitude – _________
6. trend – _________
7. calculator – _________
8. strength – _________
9. household – _________
10. leader – _________

10. Match the words to build new word combinations:

1. neighbouring	a. a company
2. to recognize	b. calculator
3. risk	c. party
4. electronics	d. leader
5. to fail	e. companies
6. liquid crystal	f. oriented
7. technological	g. production
8. electronic	h. a problem
9. emerging	i. to keep
10. to run	j. region
11 mass	k. display
12. office	l. manufacturer

11. Jumbled words. Put the letters in their right places and unscramble the words from the articles:

1. SOSGEPRR
2. RISNVOTE
3. TERUNEV
4. MEEPAXL
5. TAREKM

12. Write an acrostic on the word “INVENTION”.

13. Rank these inventions on order of importance. Explain your choice.

Money ___
Wheel ___
Steam engine ___
Telephone ___
Electricity ___
Photo camera ___
TV ___
Printing ___
Clocks ___

14. Quality Puzzle

Unscramble each of the clue words.
Copy the letters in the numbered cells to other cells with the same number to discover the hidden message.
As soon as you get the message – discuss it with your classmates.
Is it always true or not? Give your reasons.

Innovation Puzzle

KEY:

7. 1. Director; 2. Manufacturer; 3. Inventor; 4. Amateur; 5. Singer

10. 1. j; 2. h; 3. f; 4. l; 5. i; 6. k; 7. d; 8. b; 9. e; 10. a; 11. g; 12. c

11. 1. Progress; 2. Investor; 3. Venture; 4. Example; 5. Market

14. The words are: karaoke; finance; amateur; customer; speaker; orchestra; world; popular; improvement; system; general; history; progress; risk; service; attitude; individual; materialize; crystal; household

The hidden phrase is: Laziness is the engine of science.