Japanese Storage Technology

by Me

Flash Memory

Flash memory is a type of EEPROM that was originally invented by Fujio Masuoka while working for Toshiba in 1980. It is used in a huge variety of of storage devices, including memory cards, flash drives, and solid state drives. There are two types of flash memory: the NOR type, and the NAND type. The NOR type was the first to be commercialized, and allows random access to any given place on the hard disk. However, it is relatively slow. The NAND type was commercialized a little bit later. It allows faster access, but doesn't allow random access. Instead, it accesses the information in chunks, called blocks. It also has a greater storage density, and is more durable.

An Open USB Flash Drive

Blue Lasers

Japanese inventor Shuji Nakamura invented the first efficient blue LED. Four years later, he invented the blue laser. This later became part of the Blu-Ray storage technology, which Sony did much of the development for. However, since some non-Japanese companies also took part in it's development, it can not be considered a Japanese invention.

A Picture of A Blu-Ray Disk

Wikipedia's Image for a Blue Laser

The Blu-Ray Logo

A Picture of A Blu-Ray Disk