First of two parts

American employees of Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. operations are entitled to paid leave if they are called for jury duty. That is not the case for their Japanese counterparts here because no such trials exist in this country — yet.

But when the "saibanin" (lay judge) system begins in less than two years here, some 65,000 Toyota men and women with Japanese citizenship will be allowed to serve their new civic duty with paid leave from the automaker.