Tomikawa
Having this conversation in the Tohoku region is quite significant, especially since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has led to heightened awareness about energy here.

In that sense, I’d like to discuss Tohoku. As I mentioned earlier, you visit this area almost every year.

In Tohoku, there is Toyota Motor East Japan, which develops and produces compact cars, and Sportsland Sugo, where you join the races as Morizo.

Since 2022, the Rally Challenge has also been held in Rifu. Going further back, Shoichiro Toyoda graduated from Tohoku University, meaning this place has ties to Toyota. It is safe to say these ties only deepened after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

You were the president of Toyota on March 11, 2011. When I joined Toyota, I heard from a secretary about what happened after the Great East Japan Earthquake, which I found fascinating and wish to share here.

When you heard what had happened, you immediately went to the disaster prevention center and started taking measures.

The secretaries were at first astonished that you went directly to the disaster prevention center. It might have been the first time a sitting president visited the disaster prevention center.

In the past, there was a sense that such matters were to be reported to the president, yet you were the one who went to the disaster prevention center and took command, which surprised them. Do you remember this?

Akio
An emergency response committee inevitably forms during disasters. Since my youth, I have been involved in helping suppliers improve in the Operations Management Development Division.

People involved in such tasks are often called upon as emergency responders during natural disasters. From my experience working in these roles, I’ve learned that incidents occur on-site.

Making fast decisions and taking fast action based on the constantly changing situation on the ground significantly reduces the lead time to recovery. I have repeatedly experienced this.

Since I was president at the time, I saw it as an opportunity. As president, I thought that the Emergency Response Committee was a chance to delegate authority to practical operations, so I first stopped briefing the top management.

However, even though I was the president, there were various people above me, such as the chairman and honorary chairman. So, I went to them and said, "We are not holding an emergency response committee meeting. But the operations team will hold progress meetings twice a day at five different locations. If necessary, please go there."

It was interesting to see the honorary chairman and the chairman sitting in the back of the meeting, dressed in work uniforms, and listening. They had no complaints about my request as the president at that time.

I thought they would say, “We've always held these briefings, so you should too. That’s your job as president.” But instead, they simply said, “All right.” and listened. This made it easier for operations.

There are still groups that act deferentially because of the president's title. Once, when attending a morning meeting, the moderator said, “The president will be at the morning meeting today, so could you please give a briefing on what has happened?”

I won’t say who, but a guy named Asakura who worked there said, “I don’t care if the president will be there. We're working to secure regional safety in between tremors. Why do we have to report to the president at a time like this?”

I replied, “Exactly. You tell me if there's something troubling you,” and that’s how the meeting started.

Tomikawa
You shortened it even further.

Akio
I’m not saying that briefings are pointless. But this kind of judgment is necessary in an emergency response.

Decisions at work sites are made instantly, decisively, and executed immediately amid constant change. Not everything goes well.

When the results differ from what we hoped, we should be able to say let’s move on to something else. I believe that is the role of those at the top. It also worked because of how Toyota was at the time.

Tomikawa
I’d only been working at the company for two years, so seeing you on the ground talking to people at the sites seemed normal. I suppose it was different back then, and that’s when things started changing.

Akio
I think that was the kind of company Toyota was originally. When decisions made at work sites are reported up the hierarchy, all kinds of things can happen.

Especially in a crisis response, it is better to minimize this hierarchy and keep things as flat as possible.

Not only is it important to keep it flat, but it is vital that everyone shares a clear understanding of the roles of top management and those on the ground. Otherwise, it’s impossible.

Tomikawa
So that is why the first batch of relief supplies was shipped the next day, and people used satellite phones to avoid secondary disasters.

Akio
Asakura was at Subaru when the earthquake hit. He was visiting Subaru for an improvement consultation or something.

There, Nanpachi Hayashi told Asakura to borrow a Subaru company car and head to Tohoku immediately. And as Asakura was heading to Tohoku, he received calls from different partner companies that had forklifts. They said they were also heading there.

Before the relief supplies arrived the next day, Asakura and other colleagues were already in Tohoku.

Things like that aren’t about instructions.

Tomikawa
Right. You can’t act if you just wait for instructions.

Akio
Nanpachi took the initiative to say something, but given Asakura’s usual pattern of action, he would have gone anyway.

He had apparently told Subaru to fill up the gas tank. Thanks once again to Subaru for the fuel.

Tomikawa
We must be sure to thank them properly.

They may have been pulled along by the momentum at the work sites, but it was the next week, wasn’t it?

Akio
It wasn’t the next week, maybe around March 23, two weeks later.

Tomikawa
So about 10 days later.

Akio
That was the first day the highways reopened after the earthquake. However, we had to take all kinds of detours.

We couldn’t go unless a route could be secured. When I went, one of my rules was to only take as many people as I could fit in one Alphard. I think there were about four of us, including the driver.

Our rule was to bring all our trash back.

Tomikawa
That’s important.

Akio
And bringing our own provisions. Since supplies were scarce, we brought our own food and drink.

We found a soba restaurant that was open, and when we went in, the portions were incredibly big, so I said, “Don’t leave any leftovers, especially during such tough times.” One person ate like a bird, but I told them to eat even if they had to force it.

Tomikawa
It also shows gratitude to the people in the area affected by the disaster who welcomed us.

Akio
That soba restaurant is near the circuit, so I always make sure to visit.

Tomikawa
It has stayed open all this time.

Akio
We became compatriots around that time. The disaster in Tohoku is called the Great East Japan Earthquake. It affected East Japan, as if half of Japan were hit.

As for Toyota's method of aid at that time, while we could have made donations, I thought the earthquake was too big for that.

That is why I believed we needed to establish the automobile industry here, to continue real operations long-term, thereby creating jobs, generating profits, and paying taxes, which we consider our most important form of social contribution.

So, we positioned Tohoku as the third base for Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan alongside the Aichi Prefecture and the Kyushu area.

To give you an idea, the automotive industry's shipment value was 5 trillion yen for Aichi, 500 billion yen for Kyushu, and 50 billion yen for Tohoku at the time.

With the passage of time, Tohoku has grown from 50 billion yen to 800 billion yen. Employment has increased, and the supply chain has grown, so it is vital to keep introducing sustainable products to maintain this.

The first thing we did was to make the Tohoku plant the only one to produce the Aqua. At the time, it was the most fuel-efficient car in the world, so we created a base in Tohoku to distribute it worldwide.

We then introduced compact cars such as the Corolla, Japan Taxi, and all kinds of other vehicles. Last week, we even introduced the Lexus LBX, a luxury compact car that disrupts the luxury car hierarchy.

We have not forgotten a single day since the disaster, and we continue to work together with everyone in the automotive industry, which I hope demonstrates once again that Toyota has not changed.