tommy_slothrop - You make a very good point.  Regarding
timing, it is also awfully convenient to have Japanese
companies to trash right now when so many American
companies would like to have their ugly headlines moved
off the front pages. http://theunpeople.blogspot.com/

I wonder if there is any chance that Toyota and Honda are having very well publicized quality-control problems here in the U.S. has anything to do with the fact that the Japanese have recently elected a government that has hinted that it wants the U.S. to remove its military bases.  This might be the U.S. military-industrial complex’s subtle way of reminding them that they can make their lives very difficult.

LemuelG:

Allow me to add some facts to your comments about American workers.

1. Toyota’s Prius is built in Japan.

2. The accelerator pedals involved in the recall were made to Toyota
specifications in Canada.

3. The Corolla, one of the best selling, highest quality cars in the world, is built
in the U.S.

4. Once again, Toyota was on Consumer Reports list of most reliable cars,
including the ones built in the U.S.

Ha ha! What’s he apologizing for? Being dumb enough to think they could build cars using American labour that weren’t death-traps?

The outright crappiness of US-assembled cars is an international joke, and has been for decades; and lo - the problems with Toyotas are solely concentrated in the USA…

I guess the demise of the great American auto-companies didn’t mean that American auto-workers would stop assembling killer-cars! (or destroying the reputation of one of the world’s finest car-makers)

Watch Toyota take their operations to Mexico (those which aren’t there already), and leave thousands more out of work.

Apologies from Mr. Toyoda are all very well, but what I want to hear before I die is apologies from all those Wall Street financiers and bankers who have driven the American economy into a huge ditch. As a result of their utter blind disregard, tens of thousands of people have no jobs, have lost their homes, can’t pay their medical expenses.  Tens of thousands of kids can’t get a decent education. Thousands are growing up drinking polluted water, eating polluted food, breathing polluted air.  And those who dare to criticize or complain are either ignored or forcibly shushed. Where has all the fairness gone, long time passing?

skulz fontaine - Why the hell should he do that?  Do
you really believe the man deserves to die or is your
hateful post just another example typical anti-Japanese
bigotry? http://theunpeople.blogspot.com/

Akio Toyoda should do the right thing here. Ritual seppuku. In public, on live
television, and for all the world to see.