Topic: Technology
Years from now, electronics-marketing historians will debate which of Matsunichi’s accomplishments was greater. Some might say it was creating this compact, 6 GB portable drive. We think their true high point was coming up with a company name that sounds just like either Mitsubishi, Nakamichi, or Matsushita, depending on how much half-chewed Pocky is in your mouth when you say it.
But don’t cry for the victims of this most honorable subterfuge – they may not be getting the brand name they were looking for, but they will take home six fresh, wholesome gigabytes of data-storage capacity. That plug-and-play USB 2.0 connector delivers data transfer rates up to 480Mbps when you need it to, and folds away out of sight when you don’t. Will the Matsunichi 6GB Portable Drive take up too much precious space when you’re staying in one of those closet-like Tokyo hotel rooms? Possibly – it is, like, half the size of a deck of cards, after all.
Matsunichi claims to have been in business for 14 years and to employ 3,000 people, so either they're really good at fooling the gullible or they make decent-quality stuff. Even more remarkably, they managed to devise such a Japanese-sounding name despite being based in Hong Kong! That's globalization for you. Looks like Aladdin and Jasmine were right: it really is a whole new world.
The next time your crossword puzzle asks you to fill in M_TSU_I_HI to make a ten-letter word for “Far Eastern manufacturing company,” you tell ‘em: Matsunichi! It’ll certainly be the wrong answer for your crossword – but the right answer for your portable data-storage needs.