Toyota chief's tears win support in Japan

• Source: Xinhua
• [10:46 February 28 2010]
• Comments

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda's tearful public appearances during and after his Congressional testimony in the US won sympathetic votes in Japan on Friday as images and sound bites of the media-shy executive continue to monopolize headlines.

Following Toyoda's Congressional hearing at which he apologized and assumed full responsibility for the series of events and lapses in judgment that led to the recall of 8.5 million vehicles globally, a tearful Toyoda addressed local Toyota employees.

"For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well, he said," his voice shaky and full of remorse.

"At the hearing, I was not alone. You and your colleagues across America and around the world were with me," he said with tears welling in his eyes.

It was this image the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's top newspaper by circulation, used on the front page of their evening edition.