Toyota bets made-in-Japan Lexus can drive sales
News On Japan via Reuters -- Jul 06
Toyota Motor on Friday launched production of its revamped Lexus ES sedan, a flagship luxury car that represents a renewed bet the automaker can keep building cars for the United States and China at more costly factories in Japan.
Toyota, Japan's top automaker, has made it a goal to safeguard production of some 3 million vehicles a year in its home market - roughly triple the equivalent output at Nissan Motor and Honda Motor and about 40 percent of the cars and trucks Toyota builds globally.
Lexus is key to that commitment. The only Lexus model made outside Japan is the RX sport-utility vehicle manufactured in Ontario, Canada.
Japanese automakers, including Toyota, have been reeling from a strong yen that has eroded profits on exports. The Lexus strategy leaves the brand more exposed to foreign exchange than Toyota's mainline brand, but Toyota officials said the made-in-Japan strategy would pay off even at current yen levels.
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May 22
| X Japan waxes lyrical at Madame Tussauds debut |
|  This Monday, members of the seminal metal band X Japan were in Odaiba rubbing shoulders with the likes of Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga and AKB48′s Yuko Oshima. The catch? They were all made out of wax. (Japan Times  ) |
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May 21
| Senior Kyodo News official dismissed over improper act |
|  Kyodo News said Monday that it has dismissed Satoshi Kondo, 51, deputy chief of its general administration bureau and former personnel affairs division chief, for meeting individually with a female student searching for a job and doing an inappropriate act.
(Jiji Press ) |
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May 19
| Japan's child kidnapping problem |
|  Dozens of American children are abducted to Japan every year-not by strangers, but by parents after messy divorces. (thedailybeast.com ) |
An 18-year-old youth has been arrested on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly hit a 16-year-old girl in the head with a baseball bat. (Japan Today 
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced that it intends to draw up a set of unified rules for the use of baby strollers on buses and trains. (Japan Today 
A man stabbed his ex-wife on a street in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday morning, and then caused a car crash while he was fleeing from the scene. (Japan Today 
Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito will visit Spain for seven days from June 10, the government said Tuesday. (Jiji Press 
Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Monday announced the arrest of a broker of Thai females for violating immigration laws by employing the women as masseuses. (Tokyo Reporter 
The parents of a nightclub worker killed in an arson fire three years ago filed a suit in the Nagoya District Court on Monday seeking damages against top members of the Yamaguchi-gumi organized crime group. (Tokyo Reporter 
Saitama and Okayama prefectural police last week arrested the manager of an online porn DVD operation that specialized in films featuring children. (Tokyo Reporter)