Cassette recorder players such as this were popular and commonly used in Singapore in the 1980s and 1990s. It allowed one to listen to cassette tapes, as well as to record one’s voice using the condenser microphone that is built into the player. This particular model, the RQ-413AS, was made in Japan by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., which was the predecessor to the Panasonic Corporation today. Founded by the Japanese industrialist Konosuke Matsushita in 1918, the company first adopted the “National” brand in the 1920s to sell its battery-powered bicycle lamps. The “Panasonic” brand was then created in 1955 and initially used to market the company’s audio speakers. Both brands later combined to become “National Panasonic” in 1988 before “Panasonic” became the corporate brand for the company and its products and services from 2008. As part of Singapore’s industrialisation wave in the 1970s, during which the Singapore government called out to multinational corporations (MNCs) to set up bases in Singapore, the company responded by establishing export factories and the Matsushita Technical Centre in Singapore to transfer production technology from Japan to Singapore. The company continues to have a presence in Singapore today. Panasonic Singapore acts as a consumer sales division for the local market, while the company’s regional headquarters, Panasonic Asia Pacific Ptd. Ltd., is also based in Singapore.
