TOA's founder, Mr. Tsunetaro Nakatani, was born on August 10, 1890 in the city of Takasago, approximately 30km west of Kobe, and was raised as the only son of a family of one boy and 6 girls. Following conscription into the army, he joined the 39th Infantry Regiment in Himeji. Although he had planned to be a photographer or painter after completing his military service, the death of his brother-in-law, who had been operating a manufacturing business in Senba, Osaka, forced him to defer his dreams, and he worked with his elder sister in the place of his brother-in-law until she graduated from university and took over her late husband's business.

Tsunetaro often used to tell his son, Taro, "Man's happiness lies in the fact that he can do the job he loves with all his might." Perhaps Tsunetaro said this out of parental love in the hope his son would not experience the same disappointments in life that he had endured. Was it the environment of Senba, Osaka that so changed Tsunetaro, who had previously preferred the more solitary profession of a painter? Or perhaps Tsunetaro's very efforts were responsible for bringing about such a profound change.

Around the time that his sister took over her husband's business, Tsunetaro happened to meet a young engineer during his travels who sparked his interest in making microphones. Soon after, he determined that this would be type of work he would like to do next. After moving to Kobe, he founded the Toa Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and immediately started making microphones. The seeds of today's TOA opened here, in September of 1934.