The Suicide Shift

Aqua2213

New Member
Jul 23, 2008
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Toyota's President Tries to Save Face with Bows, Apology


Culture of Shame Drives Many Japanese Business Executives to Resign Or Commit Suicide


By BRIAN ROSS, ANNA SCHECTER and MARGARET CONLEY


Loss of face and shame are powerful forces in Japanese society, and during Friday's hastily called Toyota press conference, CEO Akio Toyoda bowed repeatedly as he apologized for the car company's many product recalls and safety problems.

Toyoda said he was sorry in Japanese and then sent a message to consumers worldwide in English. "I am a little bit worried that while they are driving they feel cautious," said Toyoda. "But believe me, Toyota's cars are [safe] and we're trying to [improve] our product.



The press conference, called on short notice for 9 p.m. Japanese time, was Toyoda's first public appearance since the massive recalls and his bows and apology were seen in Japan as mandatory.
"It's not at all uncommon for executives on the hot seat to resign and then commit suicide," said Roland Kelts, a professor at the University of Tokyo and an expert on Japanese culture.



At least a dozen Japanese business executives have killed themselves over business setbacks since 1998.
Kelts, author of the book "Japanamerica," noted that Toyoda had bowed very deeply. "The deeper the bow," said Kelts, " the greater respect you show and quite literally you are exposing the back of your neck."



"In samurai days" said Kelts, "you were offering your head, which could be cut off."
Kelts said Toyoda, the 53-year-old grandson of the company founder, is scrambling to save face. "The last straw was the 2010 Prius." But according to Kelts, there is consensus in Japan that the company's problems are the fault of Toyoda's predecessors.


"For him," said Kelts, "the apology may suffice."
Jamie Metzl, executive vice president of the Asia Society in New York, suggested that Japanese culture may also have contributed to possible safety problems with Toyota products by keeping company employees from coming forward.


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When I first heard about the recall and now the other mounting troubles I was wondering how many Toyota execs will go the suicide route.:death:
Will he use a sword or, maybe a dagger, or maybe he will request a car with a faulty gas pedal and drive it.


Here (the US) all ya do is embezzle your ass off so you can survive after you get fired and then write a book about it and make millions more! :perfectplan:
 

gyoza ramen & a beer

Active Member
Feb 20, 2009
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Here (the US) all ya do is embezzle your ass off so you can survive after you get fired and then write a book about it and make millions more!

To which I'd add: "...while you go on 'Oprah" or 'Larry King Live' or (omg!) 'Dr. Phil" and explain how all your criminal activity was the result of low self-esteem."

While the Japanese (and other Asian cultures') concept of a shame that is so great that the only appropriate response is an act of self-destruction seems extreme to someone with my Euro-American upbringing, it certainly stands in sharp relief and clear contrast to the prevailing attitudes of the unending parade of amoral, unethical bankers, corporate leaders, and elected public officials who seem to think that it is their birthright to do as they please with other people's money and, by extension, their lives.

Can any of us in the States or Europe imagine or picture, even for a second, one of these American or European guys bowing at a press conference or stockholder's meeting or political rally while acknowledging their wrongful behavior?

Of course not, what we get instead are bankers whose sense of entitlement and culture of rapacious self-enrichment is so ingrained that they can make a remark about how their banking activities are, after all, "only doing God's work" as one of these clueless bottom-feeders actually said last month.

While I don't understand or, I guess, agree with the place that the concept of shame seems to occupy in Asian cultures, it sure seems like Western societies--where shameful behavior is a fast ticket to celebrity or one's own reality t.v. show--could use some of it.

Of course, I've been wrong before...
 

FukkenSaved

New Member
Jul 18, 2008
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Millions of people kill themselves because they have no prospects in life. Not just 12. Where's their book?
 

Aqua2213

New Member
Jul 23, 2008
777
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Millions of people kill themselves because they have no prospects in life. Not just 12. Where's their book?

Yeah, but those millions aren't Japanese execs who had major company production setbacks which translates to a Major Fuckup which is what this thread is focused on.
:bow-pray:
 

kranker11

New Member
Feb 1, 2010
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Execs killing themselves due to lost face? Can the U.S. execs get some training to do the same? How come you never hear of politicians doing the same? Maybe because they are self centered elitists? Politicians, lawyers, and politicians need help to be put in place. Oh yeah.. without the corrupt unions. If you dont like it .. bring it..
 

Ceewan

Famished
Jul 23, 2008
9,152
17,034
It is said a trapped animal well gnaw off its' own leg to escape a trap. Suicide is about feeling trapped with no hope of escape, of being surrounded by despair. I have always felt that there is some honor in suicide, that it is the ultimate exercise of personal freedom. I am not saying I am pro-suicide, to throw away the only one thing you truly own in this world seems to me to be......ungrateful, at the least. But life is full of choices, everyone is guaranteed to make their share of wrong ones. Trouble with suicide is there is no coming back from that decision, it is game over, thanks for playing.
 

xeffects

Active Member
Jun 5, 2009
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Using the word "trying" in a public announcement is a recipe for disaster. He could have said, we "are" improving our product...trying just sounds like they have no idea what is going on with their cars.
 

fr0stbyte

Member
Former Staff
Apr 8, 2008
739
10
So that's how they deal with the shame? Here our country, if you're involved in a scam or scandal, you run for public office in the hopes of getting elected because of the new exposure you get. Fucked up right? Good thing they often lose.
 

Ceewan

Famished
Jul 23, 2008
9,152
17,034
So that's how they deal with the shame? Here in the Philippines, if you're involved in a scam or scandal, you run for public office and in the hopes of getting elected because of the new exposure you get. Fucked up right? Good thing they often lose.

Hard to beat free publicity, lol.
 

gyoza ramen & a beer

Active Member
Feb 20, 2009
548
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When we posted these comments back in March who could have imagined that, within little over a month, Akio Toyoda would look like the Dalai Lama when compared with that British-twit-CEO of British Petroleum who whines that he "wants his life back" as his corporation's broken, sunken oil rig spews hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico?
 

Aqua2213

New Member
Jul 23, 2008
777
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"I want my sanity back!!!" :donotwant:

They should use all the corrupt whiny execs to plug that oil leak with. Why waste perfectly fine golf balls.
 

gyoza ramen & a beer

Active Member
Feb 20, 2009
548
32