Encountered this term today while reading about a character from an anime (Log Horizon). It seems to indicate a woman who is goodlooking despite being small, but I can’t find much information about the expression at all. Someone online indicated it was a deprecated term, but if that is the case, it’s a bit strange that I would encounter it in a modern text. Moreover, I’m wondering about the etymology; does it just come from the comparison with actual transistors (the tiny devices)? Or am I thinking too literally?
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Japan was the first country to popularize miniaturized consumer electronic devices from the 1960’s through the 90’s. That made the economy boom in the US and Japan. CES and AVN shared venues in Las Vegas, and Japanese beauties pulled down huge fortunes as glamorous sex models. It petered-out after that, as Japan quit trying to fight Chinese and Korean competition, and today Japanese electronics – and women – struggle to survive in shrinking markets.
There’s the Japanese wiki page: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B8%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC
The wiki article says that the term was coined around the time that Akiko Kojima was the first Japanese woman to win Miss Universe in 1959. In response, the Japanese fashion world started paying more attention to smaller models (as opposed to previous ideas of perfect proportions). To some, such models were both smaller and higher quality, like the transistor radios that were taking off in Japan at the same time, and that’s where the term came from.
Another article saying much the same thing: https://word-dictionary.jp/posts/5122
It’s pretty old-fashioned but still gets some occasional use in songs (there was a TOKIO song “Transistor G Girl”) and video games.