Toyota Motor’s chairman kept his seat on the carmaker’s board at its annual meeting, where talk of selfies and sumo wrestlers overshadowed Akio Toyoda’s role in a contentious buyout of a group company.

Shareholders passed a motion Thursday to appoint or reappoint six people, including Toyoda and CEO Koji Sato, to Toyota’s board of directors.

Although major proxy advisers backed Toyoda’s reelection — reversing their stance after voting against him in 2024 — investors got a chance to air their grievances as Toyoda faced them publicly for the first time since the Toyota group launched a ¥4.7 trillion ($32.4 billion) bid to privatize Toyota Industries.