The Japanese Didn’t Need Radar

During the Thirties and Forties, while Britain and the US focused on radar, the Japanese largely ignored the technology – they were so far ahead in binoculars they felt they didn’t need it.
Their huge brass-and-steel instruments (many built by Nikko, a military supplier which became Nikon) were often big enough to fit a human head inside, with lenses that absorbed up to 980 times more light than the naked eye, offering views of objects up to 20 miles away.
Many Americans took pairs home as trophies after World War Two.