Let the music play! Since 1946.

Once upon a time there were four brothers who had talent, ideas, courage, and a sense of anticipation. What might sound like the beginning of a fairy tale was in reality a risky venture for the brothers Kazua, Tadao, Toshio, and Yukio Kashio. It was 1946, only one year after the end of the Second World War. Their common goal was to design and produce electronic and digital technology, while succeeding in this field. However, the amateur but passionate musician Toshio had a project in mind: the dream of designing affordable electronic musical instruments for enthusiasts. After the successful launch in 1957 of the first electronic relay calculator, followed in the early 70s by the first inkjet printer and the first pocket calculator, when Casio scored a major success in the mid-70s on the watch market with the CASIOTRON watch, Toshio felt that the expertise in technological development was advanced enough and that the time had come to finally implement the project from the early years and thus realize his dream.

At the beginning of 1978, the siblings undertook to fully revolutionize the electronic musical instrument market, under the direction of Toshio Kashio. Their goal: to rely on new ideas, small-sized devices, innovative technology to offer a quality-price ratio allowing even the tightest budgets to access the creative pleasure that music provides, even at home.

In 1980, Casio set new standards for the future, thanks to the world’s first portable keyboard, the CASIOTONE 201. Given the 49 different sounds the device could generate, success was immediate. Using the VL-1 mini keyboard launched on the market a year later for its worldwide hit “Da Da Da,” Stephan Remmler of the German group TRIO demonstrated that quality did not necessarily mean a high price and large size. The 16-bit FZ-1 synthesizer definitively announced the beginning of a new era, making the music market accessible even to amateurs, without them having to pay the price of a new car.

Thus, Toshio’s dream became reality and still remains today the company’s motto. From keyboards for beginners to synthesizers and other professional stage instruments, through accessible digital pianos, CASIO offers creative and quality musical instruments at an affordable price. Today, the brand is present worldwide. With 70 million instruments sold, Casio has achieved success that even Toshio Kashio could never have dared to dream of.