Toyota is getting in big kuso (doo-doo) back home.
Up until now, the company could do no wrong. Largest company in Japan. Largest employer. Provided income to countless publishing houses that printed books about the Toyota Way.
Now, Toyota is being blamed for Japan’s falling reputation abroad, political difficulties, and just about everything including the bad weather (it snowed this morning in Tokyo,) and the falling GDP.
Yes, the falling GDP.
Toyota’s recalls could end up slicing up to 0.2 percentage points off Japan’s GDP, says a study by the Daiwa Institute of Research, that got in the hands of the Nikkei [sub].
Toyota’s problems “present a downside risk for the economy,” says the institute’s Mitsumaru Kumagai. We’ll spare you the gory details, but Daiwa sees people all over the world shunning Japanese cars and other Made in Japan products. Some 49,000 jobs could be lost as a result. Fire and brimstone will rain from Mount Fuji.
What’s with a lousy 0.2 percent, did you say? Japan’s national pride is at stake! China is breathing down Japan’s neck GDP-wise. By all accounts, from the IMF, through the World Bank to the CIA Factbook, Japan is the world’s second largest economy behind the U.S.A..
However, China looms big in Japan’s rear-view mirror, and as the inscription says, it may be closer than it appears. According to the CIA Factbook, China was only some lousy $291b behind Japan in 2009. Japan’s GDP contracted 5 percent last year, says the Economist. In 2009, China booked a GDP growth of 8.7 percent, and it is looking at more than 10 percent growth in 2010.
“In 2010, Japan may fall to number three behind China,” said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist for Nomura Securities in Tokyo, and it doesn’t take his exalted position to come to that conclusion.
It will be a national tragedy. And who will be blamed for it? Toyota and its pedals.
…and as we know, unlike here in the US, the blamed must pay a rather harsh penalty, so this is a serious discussion for the Japanese…
Here’s my proposed seppuku list for this country, in no particular order:
1/2 of of the investment bankers.
Bernanke and Geithner and Paulsen.
The other 1/2 of the investment bankers.
The SEC.
All of Congress.
The guy who did the service package study for the oil filter on my 1980 Monte Carlo (I have a long memory. You can run but you can’t hide, mister.).
Have the Japanese not learned anything? If China are to overtake them (GDP-wise), then let them and concentrate on building decent, tangible, GDP with good, organic growth.
Chasing the number one slot is what got them into this pickle to begin with.
China IS
IS
Toyota IS
Not are, IS
Not are, IS
Not are, IS
CHINA IS NOT PLURAL
PLEASE ACCEPT THIS ALREADY
What a fine example of ethnocentrism.
But – English comes from England. Cammy is from England. Get it?
+1, Cole.
The collective plural grates. The BBC seems to have figured it out:
Toyota is continuing to recall 8.5 million vehicles worldwide.
and
Toyota has been criticised in the US for being too slow in both starting and implementing the recalls.
If the “Beeb” can use collective singular, than Ms. Corrigan can certainly do so, too.
The quality of BBC journalism has slipped over recent years. They use terms like “high school” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/8508874.stm) and “kids” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8510000/newsid_8510800/8510837.stm). Which certainly aren’t English terms.
And if you want to play the game of “who’s right”, then may I invoke the “It’s our language” trump card?
It’s the tyranny of the majority, Cammy. Most English speakers use American dialects rather than U.K dialects.
So, how about the Times of London? “Labour is vigorously defending the seat….”
Yes, Labour is spelled with a “u,” which is fine. However, the Times has the good sense to use collective singular.
So what you’re saying is because it’s popular, it therefore, must be right? I’ve a funny feeling that I’m about to invoke “Godwin’s Law” in a minute…..
P.S. The Times is a joke of a paper, too. But that’s a separate issue.
One of the many beautiful things about the English language is that in many instances, there is no “right.” It’s a very elastic, ever-changing language.
That said, the use of collective plural is jarring and distracting to most Anglophones, especially so on this website.
Journalists tend to write for their audiences, don’t they?
By the same token, though there are many dialects in the United States, most journalists, especially TV journalists, use one dialect — the most widely spoken one.
So you extol the beauty of the English language and how it be flexible. Except when my regional variation comes into play? Then, it’s inflexible.
“Journalists tend to write for their audiences, don’t they?”
Good journalists do not. You start pandering and before you know it, you’re at Fox News.
We at TTAC do not temper our articles just to make it palatable for some people. We also like regional variation here, too.
Now can we talk about Japanese GDP?
When you use language that irritates the wide majority of your audience, then you can expect distraction. Your journalistic integrity won’t even come into play.
I’m not a purist. “Colour” and “Centre” and “Flavour” don’t tend to grate the majority of English speakers. Use of the collective plural does. It “gets on our tits” as you guys say.
If you’re that married to the collective plural, then by all means, keep using it. But don’t pull a face when it continues to distract from whatever it is you’re trying to convey.
Jeebus, are we still arguing about this?
I mean, this isn’t The Truth About Regional Linguistics: eighteen posts about Toyota’s accelerator pedal, yes; pluralization of “to be”, no.
How about a friendly game of soccer to settle the matter?
There already is a Truth About Grammar website, isn’t there?
Personal favorite: When someone contracts “should have” to “should of”, instead of “should’ve”.
I think coverage about Toyota has official gone off the deep end. It’s something I’ve grown to expect from American media, but the piling on by the Nippon Press has really caught me off-guard.
Both are correct and permissible. Go duke it out at the thetruthaboutgrammar.com
Ok, some of us are(!) actually concerned about the English language. Last time I commented on Ms. Corrigan’s use of “Toyota are”, I was reprimanded by the editors. So, thanks to all of you who are(!) siding with me in this. After the “reprimand” I looked this up on UK English websites, and there seems to be unanimous agreement that when you say for example “Parliament are”, it means that every single MP is out doing something on his or her own, whereas “Parliament is”, means it is acting as an entity! So, in practice, you would almost never say “Parliament are”, or for that matter “Toyota are”, and it would mean something entirely different than “Toyota is”.
Now, when I see Ms. Corrigans postings, I am dreading all the “Toyota are”‘s, “Ford are”‘s, and so on.
Like it or not, the message gets totally lost in the grammatical gymnastics displayed!
By the way, who is (oops… “are”) Cammy Corrigan?
This whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. It’s hard to believe that Japan would be so naive as to believe that their entire economic fate rests in the hands on one big industrial player. And it is even more naive to think that a recall of extensive size would never occur. As many have stated, just look at GM and Ford. As cars become ever more technologically complex; heavy-handed regulations become more onerous and Toyota experiences ever greater global expansion/maturity, significant recalls will occur; it’s inevitable.
Success will be measured by how the problem is managed and in Toyota’s case, not so well. Perhaps they felt invincible; hopefully now they have learned a valuable lesson.
As for China, welcome to global trade; they loom large in everyone’s rearview mirror (or at least those that haven’t been passed, yet)
In the US, the gov’t thought the same thing about banks and the auto industry, so I don’t fault Japan for thinking the same thing.
But, I could see some serious problems if Wal-Mart went bankrupt tomorrow.
I’m pretty surprised that Akio Toyoda hasn’t been shamed into stepping down by his fellow Japanese…pretty arrogant. I’m sure his neighbors give him the gas face when they see him on the street.
This just in: Toyota responsible for my receding hairline.
Follicle remuneration details at 11.
Cole, Cammy is British. Their use of the English language (which you might have to admit, was earlier than anyone else’s) is quite different.
Rules and accepted usage are different.
I’ve lived in both places so can confirm this fact.
Relax a bit and enjoy the stories, try not to let your pet peeve get the better of you, man.
My pet peeve? People writing “alot” for “a lot”.
Interestingly, “alot” is wrong in both Britain and America (not to mention Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa).
What about on the international space station? :) Can I say alot if I’m traveling over international waters? Lets leave the control of the Northwest Passage out of this as I don’t believe the ISS passes over the arctic.
Careful tsofting, certain people (sadly) are above criticism — you’re going to get this thread locked.
I dont think people are dumping made in Japan stuff.
Look at where the largest market for Lambo Mercielagos are…
Cant have them without producing the cheapest shit on the market, and making a boat load of profit.
That’s why.. we cant just walk away from made in japan stuff.
It also wont change over night.
Now.. maybe people will look at other cars as face value, rather than just shun them.