• aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Nobody does everything like a Japanese company.

    Fun fact: Sony makes most of its money selling life insurance policies in Japan.

    PlayStation is just a side project.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          20% of their market value, 15% of their economy, Hyundai and Kia (which aren’t the same company on paper only) are the other two giants with SK not too far behind them, all of them together must be about a third of Korea’s economy…

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              3 months ago

              No but the cars are basically the same (same platform, engines, software…) so Kia’s numbers should be counted as part of Hyundai’s

    • texasspacejoey@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Fun fact: Sony makes most of its money selling life insurance policies in Japan.

      And samsung makes most of its money selling shipping containers

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            If you want to talk weird computer brands you can’t beat Tandy. Unlike everyone else here Tandy has only ever sold two things: leather and leatherworking equipment, and personal computers. No heavy machinery, no transitional products. No, this leather company decided that personal computers were the next big thing and that they were the people to sell them.

          • Blizzard@lemmy.zip
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            3 months ago

            The money you paid for it back then provided that vital funds which drove the company to turn into a global conglomerate it is today!

            EDIT: You just reminded me my first CD-ROM drive was made by Hyundai!

            • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
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              3 months ago

              It was unknowingly. The computer was branded as Blue Chip, but inside everything was labeled Hyundai. I got curious and peeled the label off the front, underneath was a Hyundai label. I never looked into if blue chip was a local company rebranding, or if it was legit part of Hyundai.

    • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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      3 months ago

      It’s not Sony, it’s Prudential. They’re sold under Sony’s name, but they only get a fraction of what Prudential get.

        • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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          3 months ago

          Isn’t corporate structures really, but brand value. Like Nestlé, paying Starbucks to sell Nestlé coffee branded as Starbucks, Prudential pays Sony to sell Prudential life insurance with the Sony brand.

    • Sparky@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      So Sony makes cameras, games consoles and also is an insurance company.

      Samsung makes phones, TVs and military tech. Hitachi makes diggers and vibrators.

      And Disney makes movies, theme parks and offer hitman services.

      hope the last one will never come true

      • hamFoilHat@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Disney ruined the Hitman industry. There used to be hundreds of small, Mom and Pop assassin bureau’s that maybe didn’t always succeed in killing the target but you could tell they cared about ending people’s lives. They put heart and soul into the assassination business. But now Disney has gobbled all of them up and it’s just one cookie cutter hit after another. No creativity, no imagination. They pretty much just walk up to their targets in broad daylight then use the Disney lawyers on the back end if anyone tries to stop them. I sure miss the good old days.

        That was a joke. I don’t think Disney is running an assassin business, they’re not Boeing.

    • booly@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Sears kinda used to be like that in the U.S.

      Craftsman, the tool brand, was an in-house brand for Sears, along with Kenmore appliances, Die Hard batteries, Land’s End clothing, etc.

      But the whole reason why there is a style of house called Craftsman homes is because Sears used to sell house kits as huge Ikea-style pre-cut lumber to be assembled on site according to their instructions.

      Sears also sold insurance under its Allstate insurance subsidiary, houses under its Coldwell Banker real estate brokerage, and all sorts of consumer finance through its Discover card.

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Costco and Kirkland. Though I imagine Sears and co had to actually manufacture that stuff. Kirkland is probably rebranded Chinese stuff. (If you order enough, the Chinese company will put whatever brand sticker you want on it. You can have booly TVs if you order ten thousand.)

    • Madison420@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Remington makes bullets, knives, guns, razor blades, motors all sorta random crap. It’s a old company diversifying thing not a nation specific thing.

      • mommykink@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I’d suggest reading into the Keiretsu Corporations that the US supported during the occupation era. In short, the US had a pretty big interest in creating a series of companies more powerful than the government (sound familiar), because they’d be more loyal to the US (AKA: “Capitalism, The Country”). Keiretsu follows some uniquely Japanese concepts like interdependence and societal betterment that you don’t really see affecting many western companies

          • mommykink@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Not necessarily although I hadn’t heard of Saudi Aramco until your comment.

            In western terms, the Keiretsu combined vertical and horizontal integration; only a handful of companies owned almost every level of production and had “gentleman’s agreements” to avoid heavy competition with one-another. What makes the Keiretsu unique is that the companies were chosen and consolidated by the US government and structured to be sympathetic to America and unlikely to rebuild the Imperial Army. Former fighter plane manufacturers were made into electric keyboard makers, rifle companies became borers for motors for small cars, etc. It’s why you get scenarios like the OP meme

      • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It totally doesn’t. It’s even called Capitalism as a nod to the fact you need a shit load of money (capital) to start a business - and to become notable.

        So companies and people who are already successful or already backed by wealthy interests automatically have a leg up and a head start under CAPITALism.

  • i_love_FFT@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    They started with musical instruments. First one should have been " i guess we’re doing engines now"

    • booly@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Mitsubishi even manufactured carrier based fighters (aka the Zeros) for the Japanese Imperial Navy, for the Pacific Theater of World War II.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Once upon a time I had a Mitsubishi car and a Mitsubishi can of corn. I thought that was weird.

  • vrek@programming.dev
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    3 months ago

    I’m a real man… I’m going to work at Hitachi making large heavy construction equipment… Like cranes and back loaders… Wait what do you mean “personal massager department”???

    • naticus@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Hilariously, not 5 min ago I was laid up in pain from a horrible cramp running up the side of my ankle, preventing me from walking for a moment. And I was thinking “damn I need a massager right now” and was laughing about just buying a Hitachi for it.

      • Fester@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        I bought one for my wife thinking we’d use it to lazily pump out orgasms, but 90% of its usage ended up on my shoulders and back. That was their original intention after all. They rebranded it to distance the Hitachi name from sex stuff, because that’s what everyone thinks it’s intended for now.

        Anyway, go for the wireless one.

          • Fester@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            I’d just get a real one - “Magic Wand Original” or the rechargeable version. There are a lot of fakes, so I’d avoid any counterfeit that tries to look real, or just get an altogether different massager. Go for a reputable authorized retailer like Adam and Eve or Good Vibrations.

            It melts certain types of headaches too. And yes, you can use it on your dick.

            • naticus@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Lmao thanks for letting me know about its other uses.

              I was looking at massage guns, like the one by arboleaf on Amazon, primarily for how focused it looks like I can be with hitting specific muscles. Being literally unable to walk until this cramp calmed down was terrible.

              But yes, these also all look like a solid wank.

      • KreekyBonez@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        I bought a different brand of massager, for massaging, and it works really well for loosening tight muscles and easing pain. Highly recommend getting one.

        It did come with some attachments that seem tailored to groin muscles, but those can live in the junk drawer.

        And yes, everyone who sees it in my house makes a joke about using it to whack-off, but I have no problem with that.

  • ArxCyberwolf@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    Yamaha built music sirens back in the 1950s as well. Since the Japanese public wanted to forget about the horrors of WW2, Yamaha sought to repurpose the common mechanical air raid siren into a musical device since loudspeakers weren’t a common thing yet.

    4-10 electromechanical sirens representing each note of a scale were driven on a single driveshaft and each siren had an electromagnetic shutter that would open and close the ports where sound is emitted to play or silence the notes. A handful still survive and operate, though they’re sadly dwindling as Yamaha ceased supporting them a few decades ago.

    Tour of a first generation music siren, siren activates at 4:46

    Distance recording of a second gen unit

    • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      3 months ago

      Speaking of Japanese economic recovery post-WWII, Sony also has a wild story. Operating out of a derelict apartment store, they used to run a radio repair shop and make Rice Cookers (quite poorly I might add).

      Then they got permission from some electronic transistor patent holders to fabricate their own semiconductors and created things such as megaphones, tape recorders, and eventually radios. Cheap Japanese transistor radios became a huge export.

      Now they make stereos, headphones, cameras, televisions, 4k rectal endoscopes, printers, etc.

    • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      The music sirens almost sound like bagpipes, which actually makes sense. Pipes are meant to be loud as hell and bounce off of mountainous terrain hence their favoring in highlandic cultures from Brittain to Anatolia, while air raid sirens are meant to be loud as fuck cause that means somebody is about to drop a lot of explosives, fire, or a sun on ya.

  • FiskFisk33@startrek.website
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    3 months ago

    Peugeot is a fun one too, from saw blades to petticoats to bicycles to pepper grinders to championship winning rally cars