TVs Made in Japan (Not Many Options)

TVs have become a regular household appliance. You’d be hard pushed to find someone who doesn’t have at least one TV in their home. Whether it’s used for watching movies, tv shows, or even gaming, TVs are everywhere. Today we will be looking at TVs made in Japan, possibly made in Japan, and TVs that used to be made in Japan. So, let’s jump straight in!

Which Brands Produce Japanese Made TVs? (The Short Answer)

There are quite a few Japanese TV brands. Here are a few of the big ones – Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi and Funai. However, out of these, Sharp was the only company that I was able to find evidence of actively making TVs in Japan. The other companies have either confirmed they have moved manufacturing to other locations, or it’s suspected that they have.

I should also mention that even Sharp does not seem to produce TVs made in Japan for foreign markets. The TVs they make in Japan all seem to be for the domestic market.

TVs Made in Japan

In this section I’m going to talk about brands I was able to actually confirm – or at least find evidence for – they actively make TVs in Japan.

Sharp

Sharp is a Japanese made electronics company that was founded in 1912 in Tokyo by Tokuji Hayakawa. With around 55,000 employees all around the world, Sharp is a major competitor on the world stage, churning out tens of thousands of TV sets all year round.

Being such a large company, it’s difficult to tell which of its products are made in Japan. But according to various online sources, Sharp’s TV production is almost exclusively done in China. However, the reason why they made this list is that they still produce some of their TVs in Japan, although they are mainly for the Japanese market.

Here are some of the TVs that are still produced in Japan, but as mentioned, most of these are built in Japan to be sold within Japan. The Sharp 46 LE830 46-Inch 3D LED TV, the Sharp 52LE830 52-Inch LED TV, and the Sharp Aquos LC40LE810E 40” LCD LED TV.

I don’t know if you’d be able to arrange for any of these TVs to be shipped overseas, but even if you could, I imagine the cost of doing so would be prohibitive.

TVs That Are Possibly Made in Japan

Below, I’m going to talk about brands that may still produce TVs in Japan, but I wasn’t able to find any reliable sources to confirm this. Hence the “possibly” in the title.

Sony

It wouldn’t be a Japanese tech list without Sony! Founded in 1946 by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka in Tokyo, Japan, Sony is one of the biggest tech companies on earth! They have created and produced countless different TVs over the years, LCD, QLED, LED, 3D, you name it!

Sony has a whopping 36 manufacturing facilities in Asia alone, this includes 20 facilities in Japan. So quite a lot of Sony’s production takes place in Japan. However, when it comes to Japanese televisions it’s not so easy to pinpoint exactly where they are made.

According to various sources, a lot of Sony’s tv production is carried out in China and India. That being said, Sony does manufacture TVs in Japan for the domestic market. But getting the exact model information isn’t really a possibility, as every source I encountered turned out to be fake after a little digging around. The truth behind production seems to be that if you bought it in Japan, then it was made in Japan. But like with most things related to big businesses, you can’t always take their word as gospel!

Funai

A helpful reader made us aware of Funai. This Japanese founded company’s headquarters is located in Daito, Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1961, and while it does produce various consumer goods, its primary focus is TVs.

Over the years, as Funai continued to grow, it began opening manufacturing facilities in different countries. At the time of writing this, Funai has manufacturing facilities in Japan, China, Thailand, Germany, and more.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out which of its TV lines are made in Japan. Here’s a link to the company’s TV selection, and here’s another to the company’s support page. I’d recommend reaching out to the company directly before making a purchase to ensure that the model you have your eye on is one that’s made in Japan.

TVs That Used To Be Made in Japan But No Longer Are

Below are a few TV manufacturers that once upon a time produced their range of TVs in Japan, but that has since moved all of their manufacturing to other locations, and I was able to find sources to confirm this.

Toshiba

Toshiba dates back to 1875. It has always been a company that constantly strives to push technology forward. Over the years the company has manufactured and sold hundreds of thousands of TV sets for customers all over the world.

Although Toshiba is a Japanese founded company, due to its growth, they now have manufacturing plants in North America, Vietnam, China, Canada, Brazil, as well as Japan, and a whole host of other countries.

As far as TVs made in Japan go, it seems like Toshiba stopped manufacturing them in Japan and instead outsources most of their TV production to cheaper locations. However, if you see a Toshiba TV dated pre-2015, then chances are it’s made in Japan, hence why it is on this list!

Panasonic

Panasonic was founded back in 1918 by Konosuke Matsushita in Osaka, Japan. They started producing television sets in 1961. They weren’t anything like the TVs we have today, but it’s thanks to companies like Panasonic for constantly pushing the TV production world forward that we have our big shiny modern TVs today.

Panasonic is known for its high-quality products, the company has earned a great reputation for producing durable and trustworthy items. They have also won numerous awards over the years.

Panasonic now has numerous manufacturing facilities located all over the world, and that number keeps growing as the demand for tech-based items increases. Unfortunately, it seems like Panasonic no longer manufactures TVs in Japan. However, this change only happened in 2021, so there are still loads of Japanese made Panasonic TVs out there. Just check the manufacturing date.

Hitachi

Rounding off our list we have Hitachi. Founded in Japan back in 1910 by Namihei Odaira. This Japanese company is known for innovative design work and quality TVs. From HD to 4K and everything in between, Hitachi certainly knows their way around a TV!

Hitachi has its headquarters in Chiyoda City, Japan. They also have facilities in 38 different countries. Their production scale is enormous, with thousands upon thousands of products being created every week.

Most of Hitachi’s TV sets are now manufactured in Turkey. However, pre-2012, Hitachi manufactured most of their TV sets in Japan. So if you see a model dating to before 2012, then it’s very likely to be made in Japan.