Japan's First Electric Fan

The electric fan was first imported to Japan in 1893, and Shibaura Engineering Works (one of Toshiba's predecessors) developed the first Japanese-made electric fan the following year, 1894, by connecting an electric lamp to the head of an Edison DC electric motor.

This electric fan, arriving soon after the development of the incandescent lamp and letting users turn on the fan and the lamp with the touch of a single switch, was a stout piece of machinery enveloped in a wire net, with thick, black metal fan blades.