Happy New Year! This is Morizo.

I was able to start the new year again in good health.

This, like everything else, was possible thanks to the support of our customers, the local community, and stakeholders. Thank you, and I look forward to working with you again this year!

Today, we have launched “Toyota Times”.

Toyota Times is an owned media channel that shares the latest thinking from inside Toyota with all those who have some kind of connection with us. I want us to be as open as possible about who Toyota truly is and who I truly am to our friends with whom we are working to create a future mobility society. As far as I am concerned, this new endeavor is connected to a radio program that piloted in May last year and was then later launched in August to become a regularly occurring program. On the radio show, I personally discuss what's happening at Toyota as well as my thoughts and feelings as they are.

When I become “Morizo,” I find that I am able to communicate thoughts that the president of Toyota and Akio Toyoda would not always be able to express. Why do I do this? I personally feel that there are certain ideas that cannot be conveyed unless the real story is told directly.

Toyota has become a global company with more than 10 million new vehicles made and sold annually. We have started new initiatives to transform into a mobility company. What Toyota is trying to do is likely becoming difficult to understand from an outside perspective of the company, and, perhaps, even from inside the company.

Needless to say, we, the automotive industry, are a huge team – expansive and far-reaching.

We have also been increasing our number of new friends, even extending to others beyond the industry. What changes are occurring within Toyota? What is the top management thinking and trying to do?

If you don't reveal thoughts and level of engagement that go beyond mere facts and numbers, it won’t be possible to become a monolith together with those that are fighting alongside us. Toyota Times represents a new kind of internal communication that transcends the confines of the traditionally closed world of internal newsletters and intranets to reach the open world using mass media elements such as television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet.

While exercising a level of concern and through trial and error, we commit to communicating Toyota’s true identity. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Morizo

New Year Day 2019