TOYOTA Under Fire

　　　I recalled the scene of the Tokyo Tribunal of War Criminals after seeing the public hearing over Toyota. I mean the scene of the high-handed Joseph Berry Keenan who irreverently accused Japanese top officials of waging the Great East Asian War.
　　　Japan couldn't avoid the war, no matter how much effort it had made to do so. In other words, once the U.S. had decided to attack a country, they would resort to endless procedural machinations and be sure to wage war against it. It is a common maneuver of theirs. You might remember Saddam Hussein in Iraq or Noriega in Panama. Mr. Toyoda Akio might be Mr. Tojo Hideki in the Tokyo Tribunal.
　　　The president of the U.S.-based affiliate was behaving like he was irresponsible and only under the contol of the head office in Japan. He looked like Puyi, the last Emperor of China ,in court during the Tokyo Tribunal. The appeal of the victim lady smelled of the footlights, just like the old women who shed tears to get money from Japan, claiming the groundless story that they were forced to become comfort women of the Japanese Army.
　　　The testimony of this lady was incredible on many points. When the gear is in the neutral position, does the car accelerate? Both the reverse gear and the parking brake are designed not to work when the car is running at high speed. Moreover she seemed to be able to call her husband in such extreme panic in the uncontrolled car, which was moving at a speed of 100 miles per hour. The present owner of this car got this car from her after 3000 miles and now the meter indicated 30000 miles and he/she hadn't experienced the same incident until now. If I were her, I would never have sold this car to others because this car is too dangerous, like a weapon. I doubt her sincerity. Did the incident that she claimed really happen? I think that they should establish an independent committee consisting of specialists from other countries like Germany, France, England, etc. The committee would tell us who is correct between TOYOTA and the victim lady.
　　　The questions from Congress were low-level and lacked dignity, just like Keenan's in the Tokyo Tribunal. They were a little gentle with Mr. Toyoda, but looked like a lynch mob when they beat him up on the technical points of view, the field which Mr. Toyoda was not well versed in.
　　　In the incredible American society of product liability, if the driver insists that the cause of the accident is attributed to the defect of the car, he'll win, even though he isn't right. That is to say, car manufacturers always have these weak points.
　　　The relationship between the U.S. and Japan is on the brink of disaster due to the impolite anti-U.S. policy of Mr. Ozawa Ichiro and Mr. Hatoyama Yukio. If I tell you that this Toyota issue is simply revenge by the U.S., what do you think?
　　　It is the easiest way of getting huge votes for professional politicians to beat big foreign companies. I suspect that the U.S. government got tired of Japan's present policy, and they wanted to avenge it on Toyota, the Japanese industrial symbol as there were no such issues while Japan was on a pro-U.S. policy. It looks like a common maneuver of the U.S.
　　　Japan bashing for the sake of the mid-term election seems to be the same situation as the commencement of the Great East Asian War, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted.
　　　Is the Justice of the U.S. common and eternal on the globe? I believe that Japan must become independent of the U.S. as soon as possible.

Note: Japanese names are rendered surname first in accordance with customs in Japan.

(Vocabulary)
tribunal [C] (特定の問題の裁定を行う) 裁判所, 法廷, 裁定委員会
hearing / public hearing  公聴会
high-handed  高圧的な, 独断的な
hubris  (フォーマル) 傲慢(ごうまん), 不遜(ふそん)
irreverence  非礼, 不敬
irreverent  非礼な, 不敬な
resort to endless procedural machinations  際限のない策謀に訴える
machinations 《複数扱い》(フォーマル)  陰謀, 策謀
common maneuver / formula  （問題解決などの）常套手段
maneuver
1 [C] (技術を要する) 操作, 操縦, （一連の）動作
2 [C] 駆け引き, 策略
a political/legal maneuver   政治的な［法律上の］駆け引き
affiliate 支社, 支店, 系列会社, 子会社
Puyi  溥儀
smell of the footlights 芝居じみている
smell of something ＜…＞のにおいがする
shed tears (over sb/sth)(特に文)  （＜…＞のために）涙を流す
groundless  根拠のない, いわれのない
lynch （アメリカの判事 W. Lynch1742～1820の名に由来）法によらない私的制裁。私刑。
be (well) versed in sth ＜…＞に精通［熟達］している
independent committee　第三者委員会
product liability  製造物責任
brink  (悪いことなどの) 瀬戸際, 寸前
on/at the brink of sth  ＜…＞の寸前［瀬戸際］で, に瀕(ひん)して
His presidency was on the brink of disaster.  彼の大統領体制は崩壊寸前だった．
professional politician  政治屋
be tired of one's current job 今の仕事に嫌気がさす
outrageous 法外な, とんでもない, 常軌を逸した
outrageous prices  法外な値段
avenge (文) …の復讐(ふくしゅう)をする
midterm election　中間選挙
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　一昨日の公聴会の模様を一部テレビで見た。東京裁判を思い出した。倣岸不遜のキーナンが暴言を吐いて被告達を叩くあれである。あの戦争は日本がどのように和平工作をしても不可避だった。つまりアメリカが一旦この国を叩こうと決意したならばあらゆる策謀で戦争に持ち込み叩き潰すのがアメリカの常套手段であるからだ。イラクのフセインしかり、パナマのノリエガ潰ししかりである。豊田章男は東條英機か？

　現地アメリカ人社長の答弁もまるで自分が責任ないように、全て東京のコントロールだと話していた。まるで東京裁判での満州の溥儀皇帝のごとく。被害者の女性の糾弾ときたら、ありもしない慰安婦で金目当ての婆さんどもが泣き芝居で騒いでいるのと重ね合わされるほど芝居染みていた。時速１６０キロで走る車の中、パニック状態で電話できているし、ニュートラルで加速するとか、バックギアに入らないとか（当たり前だ）、サイドブレーキがきかないとか（当たり前だ）、理解できない内容のコメントだった。しかもこの車を他人に売っている。買った人が危険だとは思わなかったのだろうか。彼女には誠実さがないのだろうか。買った人が死ぬかもしれないと思わなかったのだろうか。実はそんな事実はなかったのだと思わざるを得ない。議員も程度の低い質問、揚げ足取りなどまるで品性も品格もない、あの東京裁判のキーナンのようである。トヨタ社長に対しては若干穏やかであったが、技術面で攻め立てるなど、リンチの様相が強い。

　こういう車の性能など、あとでケチをつけることは簡単であり、運転者が事故を起こした際、車のせいだと言えば、アメリカの非常識とも言える極端なプロダクトライアビリティの社会では消費者がインチキでも必ず勝利するのである。つまり車のメーカーはいつもかかる弱点を抱えていると言って良い。

　日米関係は小沢一郎や鳩山由紀夫の礼節なき反米外交により戦後最大の危機を迎えている。そんな中今回の事件はアメリカの意趣返しと見るのは穿ちすぎであろうか？

　政治屋は票を取るために外国大企業いじめがてっとり早い。政府にとっても、日本は普天間でけしからん、ついては日本の象徴であるトヨタを狙い撃ちしリベンジを図る、まさにアメリカのいつものやり方である。実際小泉より麻生までの長期間、その親米属国路線の間日本車の不買運動その他一切のアメリカ側よりのイチャモンは無かった。

　中間選挙のために日本を叩く、まさにあのルーズベルトの戦争である日米開戦と同じ様相を帯びてきた。アメリカの正義は世界の正義だとでも思っているのだろうか？

Comments

[KUMO]

Thank you for your comment.

I'm always waiting for the opinions of man/woman of integrity like you.

I hope you'll read the literature on this website; http://www.sdh-fact.com/ and you'll be welcomed here.

If you have time, I recommend that you google for "backdoor to the war". You'll know who actually wanted to wage the war.

I think that Japan used to be as democratic as the U.S. before the war. Do you know "Civil Rights Act" implemented in 1964 "about 20 years after the war".

[Charles]

I believe it is true that some American politicians are using Toyota's problems in order to help US car manufacturers. Certainly that is wrong. However, it is clear that Toyota was also at fault to some extent. There should be a neutral investigation to get the facts objectively.

However, your comments linking the Toyota issue and the Pacific War are dishonest. You are clearly an ultra-nationalist who wants to glorify militarism. Before the war, the Japanese people had no rights. Peace-loving Japanese were tortured and killed by the Kempeitai.

You seem to want to restore a military dictatorship in Japan once more.

[KUMO]

I really appreciate you for the comment.

By the way, are you a Japanese? Or, can you understand Japanese?

[アンデイ]

"...if the driver insists that the cause of the accident is attributed to the defect of the car, he'll win, even though he isn't right. That is to say, car manufacturers always have these weak points."

This is certainly true, especially if anyone discovers any kind of "defect" within a foreign owned car company.

According to local newspapers, some American conservatives outright refuse to buy "foreign cars". Most of whom are Republican or right-wing conservatives. They claim that "American-made" is the only way.

I personally own a Toyota Four-runner, and it hasn't failed me since. However, despite some loyal American Toyota car buyers, I would be prepared to hear about Toyota losses in the future. It may mean more unemployment for Japan.