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Nicholas Takahashi
Toyota Customizing & Development, a Toyota subsidiary, broke the subcontract payment law, the Fair Trade Commission said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2024
Toyota unit violated subcontractor protection law: regulator
Yokohama-based Toyota Customizing & Development broke the law by having dozens of suppliers store metal die casts and other items without paying any storage fees.
Shareholders at Toyota's annual general meeting, held in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on June 18
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2024
Toyota chair's pay raised to $10 million despite safety probe
The total made Akio Toyoda the highest paid Japanese executive for a third straight year.
A BYD Seal electric sedan displayed in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 25, 2024
BYD releases third EV in Japan as sales struggle to take off
Overall, BYD's sales in Japan fell 26% in April from a year earlier, and 28% in May.
Seiji Izumisawa, president of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, says the firm is almost finished designing its next-generation nuclear reactor.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 24, 2024
Mitsubishi Heavy moving closer to building new reactor in Japan
The firm can start building the facility once a site for it is established and some late-stage tests are completed.
Toyota's global sales, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino, fell 4.5% last month from a year earlier to 835,788 vehicles.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2024
Toyota sales and output fall on Prius recall and dip in China
Global sales, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, fell 4.5% last month from a year earlier.
Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota's chief technology officer, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2024
Toyota bets on alternate-fuel engines in an electric future
The carmaker said its making progress on developing smaller, more efficient engines that can work with EV manufacturing platforms.
The revamped BYD Atto 3 in Tokyo. A perceived resistance in Japan to battery EVs and foreign brands is seen as a major barrier for BYD.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 1, 2024
BYD bolsters Japan push with EV lineup and dealership network
The Chinese carmaker has sold less than 1,500 passenger cars in 2023 in the Japanese market, which is dominated by hybrids.
Toyota's domestic sales for January fell for the first time in 13 months as a data-rigging scandal at its small-car unit Daihatsu led to a production halt of some Toyota brand cars the unit made.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2024
Toyota Group sales lose steam amid fallout from test data scandals
Domestic sales for January fell for the first time in 13 months while worldwide production fell 3.8%, the first global decline in 13 months.
Masahiro Inoue, incoming chief executive officer of Daihatsu Motor, during a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2024
Toyota replaces Daihatsu chief after safety scandal
Masahiro Inoue, the CEO of Toyota Latin America, will replace Soichiro Okudaira effective March 1.
Soichiro Watanabe, Panasonic's chief technology officer for EV batteries, says production of a revamped version of the firm's 2170 cells will begin at its manufacturing plant in Nevada as early as this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2024
Panasonic to make upgraded electric car battery as early as 2024
Production of a revamped version of the company's 2170 cells will begin at its manufacturing plant in Nevada sometime during 2024 or 2025.
A H2-A rocket carrying an information gathering satellite takes off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2024
Spy satellite race in Asia heats up with Japan rocket launch
The probe will monitor North Korean missile sites, according to Mitsubishi Heavy, and the launch comes amid a busy period for spy satellite launches in Asia.
Toyota's global production jumped 11% in November to a record level, bouncing back from last year's supply chain disruptions and benefiting from robust demand both in Japan and overseas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2023
Toyota saw record November sales on demand from U.S. and Europe
Global sales — including that of subsidiaries Hino and Daihatsu — rose 12% from a year earlier to 986,262 units.
Officials from the transport ministry enter Daihatsu Motor's headquarters in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, on Thursday for inspection after a scandal regarding safety data manipulation emerged at the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023
Daihatsu offices raided after scandal halts all car shipments
The raid followed revelations that the carmaker and supplier had manipulated the results of various collision safety tests dating as far back as 1989.
A 2023 Toyota Prius vehicle during an auto show in New York in April
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023
In the birthplace of Toyota’s Prius, hybrids now reign supreme
Japan’s biggest carmakers have only recently promised to roll out a wider slate of battery-only models in the next two to three years.
Japanese startup Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada poses next to the firm's moon rover on Thursday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 17, 2023
Ispace to launch second moon mission following crash
The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as the northern hemisphere winter of 2024.
Toshihiro Mibe, president and chief executive officer of Honda at the Japan Mobility Show, in Tokyo in October
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2023
Booming profits bolster Japan automakers’ cautious EV shift
The Japanese auto sector is on track this year to exceed its peak operating profit of around ¥5.4 trillion in fiscal 2015.
Toyota President Koji Sato speaks  next to an FT-3e electric vehicle at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2023
Toyota raises profit forecast 50% on weak yen, record sales
With an unprecedented 5.6 million vehicles sold in April-September, Toyota is on track for its 11.4 million-unit goal.
Toyota’s gigacast rear component. The company plans to employ the gigacasting technology in making electric vehicles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2023
Tesla’s latest disruption in carmaking draws followers in Japan
Carmakers in Japan are starting to embrace gigacasting as they seek to make up for lost ground in the shift to EVs.
Toyota has suspended operations at six domestic plants following a blast at a factory run by one of its component suppliers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2023
Toyota halts six auto plants after explosion at parts supplier
The explosion occurred Monday at Chuo Spring’s factory in Aichi Prefecture, where vehicle suspension coils are made.
Toyota's global sales and production for August hit record highs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 29, 2023
Toyota's global sales and output hit record high in August
Global production rose 4% to a record 924,509 vehicles, including subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, the Japanese carmaker said Thursday.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals