Polydor Portable “Electrix” Gramophone advertising postcard, c. 1930.
See also:
Maiko with “Nipponophone”, c. 1910.
“It is interesting to note that in Japan before the War the sales of Western symphonic music recordings were the greatest per capita of any nation in the world!
“Such sets as the Beethoven Ninth Symphony enjoy phenomenal popularity among record buyers, and the Japanese record catalogs include re-pressings not only of all the major European and American disc catalogs, but also of Western symphonic, chamber, keyboard, and vocal music by Japanese artists and orchestras.”
– The Record Book: A Guide to the World of the Phonograph, 1948