The Oasys Lite F-ROM7, a portable Japanese language word processor from Fujitsu, was announced in September 1985 as a higher-end model of the OASYS Lite.
Sighted on the Japanese Yahoo auction site (as usual they only have a limited number of low-res photos). I particularly like the keyboard …
Here’s the more basic Oasys Lite:
For those who are interested in reading further, here are two links:
- Historical Computers in Japan: Japanese Word Processors
- Google Books: Japanese Word Processing
Nice addition. I guess we’ve got all the major Japanese manufacturers covered. 🙂
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well, now there’s an Oasis Lite K in the TWDB. Had to make a Fujitsu category for it. 😀
http://typewriterdatabase.com/198x-fujitsu-oasys-lite-k.5423.typewriter
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Hi Ted, good question.
I’m assuming they type horizontally in keeping with modern Japanese books which are printed to be read top-to-bottom and right-to-left (and reading from back cover to front – this is not back-to-front to the Japanese though!). According to Wikipedia the notable exception in arrangement is various technical books and textbooks, which tend to be printed according to the western model and are read left-to-right and top-to-bottom (and front-to-back). 🙂
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Interesting! So, do Japanese word processors still type horizontally on the screen? (have to admit I know little about how Japanese is written except that caligraphers do top to bottom, and the few books I’ve seen in that language are also printed vertically.)
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