Japanese carmaker Toyota is again having to recall millions of vehicles around the globe amid complaints from customers over two technical issues. It's another blow to a firm once praised for its safety standards.
Only few months after regaining its position as the world's number-one auto maker, Toyota of Japan on Wednesday announced another major vehicle recall, involving 2.77 million cars worldwide.
The company said there had been technical problems over steering control and the water pump in some hybrid brands. "There have been no accidents or injuries over these problems, but we have received reports from customers," the firm said in a statement.
Toyota said around 1.5 million affected vehicles were sold in Japan itself, with the remainder shipped to the US, Europe and other regions. It added the popular Prius hybrid was among the brands hit by the technical issues in question, but not units sold this year.
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today )
China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters )
Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today )
Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter)
Six sailors were found dead after a fire on a foreign freighter docked at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
The sailors are presumed to be Russians. (NHK )