Eisuke Eguchi News Today

TOYOTA, Aichi Prefecture—The contraption looks like a space-age videogame that puts players in the comfy driver’s seat of a gigantic car.

Daihatsu Motor Co.’s prioritization on quick development, which imposes tight schedules for certification tests, and ineffective management supervision contributed to a falsification testing scandal, according to an investigative panel.

The recent widespread shutdown at Toyota group’s assembly plants exposed a vulnerability in its hallmark “lean” production system, which minimizes inventory.

World leading forklift manufacturer Toyota Industries Corp. has been found to have fabricated results of parts testing, forcing some forklift shipments to be halted.

Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada served as the “trigger” in the decision by Akio Toyoda to step down as company president and hand over the baton to a much younger executive.

Toyota Motor Corp. has decided to radically shift gear in how it manufactures electric vehicles by developing an EV-only platform to cut costs, raise production efficiency and competitiveness.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Nippon Steel Corp. have hammered out a 20 to 30 percent price hike for the steel supplied to the major automaker, sources said.

For the first time ever, Mizuho Bank was charged negative interest rates on deposits made to its Bank of Japan account--something expected to cost the megabank 75 million yen ($560,000).

The Bank of Japans purchase of Japanese government bonds hit a monthly record of 16.2 trillion yen ($119.5 billion) in June, the central bank said on July 7.

The plummeting yen is exacerbating the already-heightened burden on consumers and small businesses--and the situation will likely get worse, at least one expert said.