Why Did the Microwave Plate Turn in Japanese Kitchens?

A square box in the kitchen, with no fire to be seen and no glowing red wires: so why does it heat up? And in the old days, why did the plate inside turn? From shops and trains to a compact 100-volt household model, and from a "chin" that came from a bicycle bell to invisible stripes of radio waves inside the box, Sayo and Hau follow the microwave oven's 2,450-megahertz radio waves into the Japanese kitchen. Chapters 00:00 No fire to be seen, so why does it heat up? 00:45 Chapter 1: What Does "Heating with Radio Waves" Mean? 02:11 Chapter 2: At the Start, It Wasn't in Homes 03:55 Chapter 3: The 100-Volt Box and the "Chin" Sound 05:29 Where did that "chin" come from? 10 kinds of bells, struck and compared 06:52 Chapter 4: What Are the Radio Waves Doing Inside the Box? 08:45 Highlight: stripes of radio waves inside the box 09:56 Chapter 5: That's Why They Turned It. So What About the Ones That Don't? 11:29 Closing: Tools That Cool, Tools That Heat 12:42 Looking back at the path of the radio waves About this video Supervised by a licensed electrician (the channel owner). Field notes are from our supervising electrician's own experience. This video is a history of household tools, not advice on electrical work or safety. Scene images are AI-generated illustrations, not photographs of real products, places or people. Diagrams are drawn by our own program. Narration is an AI voice (Kokoro-82M, Apache-2.0). Sayo/SAYO and Amehare Hau are used as unofficial fan works. This channel is an independent production, not an official one. Where sources disagree, we either leave the point out or say which source we follow. Main sources How Microwave Ovens Work, JEMA (Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association) (in Japanese) https://www.jema-net.or.jp/living/ren... No. 28, Uses of Microwaves: Why Can Microwave Ovens Heat Food? Japan Power Academy (run by the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan) (in Japanese) https://www.power-academy.jp/electron... Regulation for Enforcement of the Radio Act (Radio Regulatory Commission Rule No. 14 of 1950), Article 46-7, e-Gov Law Search (in Japanese) https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/325M5008... History of the Microwave Oven, JEMA (Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association) (in Japanese) https://www.jema-net.or.jp/living/ren... Mass-Produced Microwave Oven, Product History, Sharp (in Japanese) https://cgi.jp.sharp/corporate/info/h... "Showa Year 100: Everyday Piping-Hot Food Spread by 'Chin' — How Microwave Ovens and Frozen Food Changed the Dining Table," Sharp's official blog on note (in Japanese) https://note.com/sharp/n/n73b739e7adba 100 Japanese Postwar Innovations: High-Growth Period, Microwave Oven (Background) (in Japanese) https://koueki.jiii.or.jp/innovation1... 1966 - Panasonic Group History - Panasonic Holdings https://holdings.panasonic/global/cor... Turntable Microwave Oven, Product History, Sharp (in Japanese) https://cgi.jp.sharp/corporate/info/h... What an Oven Range Can Do: Microwave, Oven, Grill, Steam, Superheated Steam, JEMA (in Japanese) https://www.jema-net.or.jp/living/ren... Masanori Hashiguchi, Dahai Mi, Yoshiki Muramatsu, "Trends in research on microwave heating of foods using microwave ovens," Journal of the Japanese Society of Taste Technology 21(1): 45–56, 2022 (in Japanese) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/... Diffusion rates of major consumer durables (all households), as of the end of March 2004, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Cabinet Office (in Japanese) https://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/stat/sh... Other sources are shown on the source cards in the video (top right of the screen). Credits Voice: Kokoro-82M (Apache-2.0) Character art: Oyodo Hisaaki (大淀久明 様) Characters: Sayo/SAYO (小夜), Amehare Hau (雨晴はう) — unofficial fan work (非公式の二次創作) BGM: "Hirusagari Kibun" (昼下がり気分) by KK (DOVA-SYNDROME / OpenTracks) #MicrowaveOven #JapaneseKitchen #ShowaJapan