Word Processor Day

What Is Word Processor Day?

Every September 26th is "Word Processor Day" (ワープロ記念日, Wāpuro Kinenbi) in Japan. On September 26, 1978, Toshiba (then Tokyo Shibaura Electric) announced the JW-10, the world's first Japanese-language word processor. It transformed Japanese writing, which until then had relied on handwriting and Japanese typewriters, through kana-to-kanji conversion, and it can be seen as the starting point of Japanese text input on today's computers and smartphones.

The JW-10: The World's First Japanese Word Processor

The JW-10 began shipping in February 1979, the year after it was announced. By today's standards, it was a remarkably large and expensive machine.

• Price and weight: It cost 6.3 million yen and weighed 220 kg.
• What was inside: A cabinet about the size of an office desk held a keyboard, a CRT display, a 10 MB hard disk, an 8-inch floppy disk drive, and a printer.
• Kana-to-kanji conversion: The method of typing a reading and converting it into kanji became a standard technology in later Japanese input systems.

It Started with a Chat with a Newspaper Reporter

Development was led by Toshiba engineer Ken-ichi Mori. In a conversation with a newspaper reporter, the topic came up that Japanese reporters were slower at writing articles than their Western counterparts. Mori believed the difference lay in their tools, and this is said to have inspired him to create a Japanese word processor.

Facts About Word Processors

• The difficulty of Japanese typewriters: Earlier Japanese typewriters required the operator to pick each character from a large tray of type, which took considerable skill.
• Building the dictionary: The team gathered frequently used words from dictionaries, textbooks, and glossaries, ending up with a dictionary of about 80,000 words. Developing the dictionary and kanji fonts is said to have taken more than three years.
• Hand-crafted kanji fonts: The kanji shapes were created by professional designers, who could make only about 100 characters a week.
• From word processors to PCs: As personal computers spread rapidly, no new dedicated word processors appeared after Sharp's "Shoin" model announced in 2000, and by the end of September 2003 every manufacturer had stopped making them.

Ideas for Word Processor Day

• Register frequently used words or phrases in your input dictionary to make typing a little easier.
• Learn one new keyboard shortcut.
• Write a note or letter by hand and enjoy the difference from digital writing.
• Look at photos of old word processors and computers and think about how our tools have evolved.

From a 220 kg Machine to the Palm of Your Hand

September 26 is a day to look back on how Japanese text input, which began with a 6.3-million-yen, 220 kg machine, has become something everyone uses. The next time you type on a keyboard or smartphone today, spare a thought for where it all began.