Memorial Held for Late Toyota Honorary Chairman

Jiji Press

17:55 JST, April 24, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A memorial ceremony was held in Tokyo on Monday for the late Toyota Motor Corp. Honorary Chairman Shoichiro Toyoda, who died at 97 in February.

The ceremony was hosted by 17 Toyota group companies. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, the eldest son of the late honorary chairman, led the event.

“We pledge to take on Toyota’s craftsmanship and human resources development for better products by studying and working harder,” Akio said as a representative of the company’s founding family.

The ceremony was joined also by individuals from political and economic circles, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Shoichiro promoted vehicle production in the United States as president, establishing a foothold for Toyota to become a global automaker.

As chairman of the former Keidanren, whose successor body is officially called the Japan Business Federation, he called for structural reform in Japan mainly through deregulation while actively engaging in private-sector diplomacy.