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Toyota unit Hino's data scandal spreads to small trucks

Aug 23, 2022 (Nikkei) - Toyota Motor unit Hino Motors on Monday revealed improper engine performance testing for its light-duty commerical trucks, widening a quality control scandal just weeks after acknowledging it had falsified emissions tests on larger vehicles for decades.

The company said it had not tested the emissions levels of its Hino Dutro light truck engines at least twice, as regulations require, despite submitting documents to authorities that it had done so.

Hino suspended shipments of the trucks in question Monday. The automaker now is unable to ship any trucks built with its own engines to the Japanese market -- about 40% of Hino's global vehicle output. Nearly all of Hino's truck shipments in Japan are under suspension.

"This is a serious issue and indefensible that after reporting the results of our own verification, additional irregularities were discovered by the authorities," Satoshi Ogiso, Hino's president, said at a news conference on Monday.

Ogiso promised the results of an investigation within three months and said the company would determine to what extent former and current management were responsible for the missteps. ...continue reading

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Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

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