Tadao Kashio Life story: History of Casio PC Organization

In this example of overcoming adversity, we will share Tadao Kashio's life story, a Japanese specialist, creator, and business person. He was the Leader of Casio PC Co., Ltd. The organization headed by Tadao Kashio became one of the significant rivals in the business of electronic number crunchers, electronic watches, and PCs, and it stays one of the worldwide.

His diligence and intelligence had drawn the attention of the factory’s owner, Hiroshi Enomoto, and soon he encouraged Tadao Kashio to enter Waseda’s Worker’s School (now Waseda University) to deepen his professional knowledge while continuing working at the factory. Such an extraordinary squander was explained by the fact that at the beginning of the year, Tadao Kashio started his small private production of components for aircraft.

The money earned with the help of the milling machine allowed the Kashio family not only to survive in the post-war years but also to start planning the future. By that time, Tadao Kashio had already seen how the calculator worked, and all his thoughts were closely linked to it. After the show, Tadao Kashio was inflamed by the idea of mass production of calculators.


In January 1950, he offered his brother, Toshio Kashio to start developing the original model of an all-electric compact calculator. They wanted to pursue an innovative idea. The Kashio family was working hard during the day to earn some money for this project realization, and at night, the family worked on the improvement of their electric calculator.


The task was complicated by the fact that not having any financial opportunity to hire external specialists for some work Tadao Kashio delegated all the technical parts of the project to his brother Toshio Kashio. During the development of a new model,the Kashio brothers discovered that not only the basic capabilities of their device became out of date but also the principle of work.

Each of them had their own area of responsibility: Tadao and Kazuo were responsible for the production, Toshio generated new ideas, and Yukio, who had studied mechanical engineering at university, drew the drafts. In order to create a smaller electric calculator and mass produce it, the Tashio Kashio decided to redesign completely it.

At the end of 1956, Tadao Kashio and his brothers decided to make a presentation of the invention in Sapporo. He asked Tadao Kashio to come to their office and demonstrate the work of their innovative device. The creation of a universal and super-accurate for its time relay calculator coincided with the general economic surge of the Land of the Rising Sun, and new orders flooded onto Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

The Kashio brothers got so involved in golf that basically neglected their work which led to the stagnation of new technologies development. Their competitors, Sharp Corporation most of all, immediately used the situation and launched the production of new generation all-electronic calculators, which did not base on relay technology, but on newly invented transistors. 

In August 1972, the company achieved the results and released the Casio Mini – the world’s first personal calculator with a price tag of ¥12,800 ($231.60 in today’s money). Soon, the Casio Mini took over the world market, and calculators became a part of everyday life. Tadao Kashio was one of the “invaders” who had ruined the watch monopoly of conservative and self-assured Europeans have created a wide variety of innovative wristwatches, which gained enormous popularity with people all around the world.

Global Casio watches became the symbol of the company as recognizable as a calculator. These two personal qualities of Tadao Kashio turned his company into one of the world’s leaders in the area of high technology praised by business analysts for innovative management and aggressive but efficient marketing and pricing.

Tadao Kashio himself, as a true Japanese man, explained his success through his life-long service to society. As Tadao Kashio would always say, if it is not completely original it is not Casio. Tadao Kashio's life story shows all the accomplishments he achieved thanks to his hard work, perseverance, and a well-organized team of professionals.


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