1979-1988 Taking on the Future

In the 1980's, the service sector began to play a more important role as the focus of the Japanese economy shifted from heavy industry to lighter, more compact products.
Fast food and convenience stores became part of the familiar landscape, and products like personal computers, CD players, and video decks became an integral part of people's lives.
We focused our efforts on our multimedia business, starting with CD-ROM versions of "Dictionary of Science and Technology" and "Kojien" (the authoritative dictionary of the Japanese language), which we produced by applying printing technologies that we had already cultivated to the fields of information processing and product processing. During this period we also strengthened our product development functions by establishing a separate laboratory for each business field, and brought to market such new products as smart cards, thermal transfer printing media, rear projection television screens, and color filters for liquid crystal displays.
Following the Plaza Accord, an international agreement that depreciated the US dollar relative to major currencies including the yen, the Japanese economy began an unprecedented boom. In the fiscal year ended March 1989, DNP's consolidated sales exceeded 1 trillion yen for the first time.