“\"Made in Japan\" faces a fraud crisis – has the myth been defeated?

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This post was last edited by yinkuilin6868 on 2016-6-17 at 14:12. Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 27 (Reporter: Guo Dan) For a long time, “Made in Japan” has been regarded around the world as a symbol of excellence and perfection in manufacturing craftsmanship. However, in recent years, Japanese companies have been repeatedly exposed to cases of fraud, involving various industries such as food, housing, transportation, and daily necessities. It makes one marvel that \"Made in Japan\" has begun to lose its status as something sacred. Yes — Fraud in vehicle fuel efficiency figures: Multiple automakers involved in fraud scandals. On April 20, it was revealed that Mitsubishi Motors in Japan had altered the fuel efficiency data for at least 4 models of microcars sold there; the actual fuel efficiency was 5% to 10% higher than what was indicated, affecting over 2 million vehicles. Coincidentally, on May 18, Japanese automaker Suzuki admitted to falsifying fuel efficiency data for 16 models sold in Japan, involving over 2.1 million vehicles. According to British media reports, the UK Department for Transport discovered in April that the nitrogen oxide emissions from the same models produced by Nissan with 1.5-liter and 1.6-liter engines exceeded the limits allowed under Euro 5 standards by a large margin. Several well-known manufacturers in Japan’s automotive industry, such as Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Nissan, have been involved in fraud scandals. Japanese media have described it as a “major earthquake” for the automotive industry. Living conditions – Seismic engineering measures are inadequate; shoddy work leads to tilted buildings. The Japanese company East Asia Construction Industry has been accused of cutting corners in the seismic foundation improvement works for Runway C at Haneda Airport. Japan is a country prone to earthquakes**, but its buildings are renowned worldwide for their high seismic resistance and excellent construction quality. Yet, beneath this impressive aura, Japan’s construction industry has been plagued by scandals such as shoddy work, data fraud, and the issue of tilted buildings. According to Japanese media reports on May 6, the Japanese company Toa Construction Industry was found to have cut corners in the seismic foundation improvement work for Runway C at Haneda Airport; the amount of liquid poured in was only 5.4% of the standard requirement, yet the company submitted false reports to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism claiming that everything met the requirements. In October 2015, prior to this, the Japanese Mitsui Fudosan Group admitted that a large-scale apartment complex it sold in Totsuka Ward, Yokohama, had suffered severe tilting. The reason for the tilt is that the construction company, Asahi Kasei Building Materials, a leading Japanese firm, cut corners during construction, resulting in uneven heights of the foundation columns of the building and thus causing the building to tilt. According to the investigation, Asahi Kasei is involved in 2,376 foundation pile projects in Japan, and data falsification and misappropriation occurred in 266 of these projects. Eating – Fake and substandard products flooding the market, raising concerns about food safety. 1. Beef labeled as Matsusaka is not actually Matsusaka. In March 2015, Japanese media reported that a barbecue chain in Hokkaido was passing off inferior beef of unknown origin as high-quality “Matsusaka beef” in order to charge higher prices from foreign tourists. When it comes to agricultural and sideline products, Japan places particular emphasis on their place of origin. For the same food, prices can vary greatly depending on where it comes from. Therefore, in order to reduce costs and pursue higher profits, some businesses often manipulate things at the source of food, substituting one thing for another. 2. Fraud in organic fertilizer production for 10 years: In November 2015, a fertilizer company in Akita City, Japan, named Taipai Sangyo, was exposed for falsifying the indications regarding the proportion of organic ingredients in its products. At a press conference, the company’s president, Katsumi Sasaki, revealed a shocking truth: he admitted that the company had been engaging in fraud \"for at least 10 years.\" 3. McDonald’s in Japan has repeatedly had issues with foreign objects in its products. Although McDonald’s is an American brand, its food safety management at stores in Japan has faced frequent problems. In the second half of 2014, a series of incidents involving foreign objects contaminating food severely damaged McDonald’s reputation in Japan. In October 2014, a female customer found rubber in her chicken nuggets while dining at a restaurant in Tsuyama, Okayama Prefecture ； In December 2014, a child suffered cuts to the mouth while eating McDonald’s ice cream, caused by plastic pieces in the ice cream ； Earlier on, a female customer found a tooth in her fries while dining at a McDonald’s restaurant in Osaka… Although these incidents were isolated, they still caused quite a stir in Japan’s food safety community. Home appliance giants have long used financial fraud to conceal their losses. The Japanese home appliance company Toshiba overstated its pre-tax profits by a total of 224.8 billion yen (approximately 13.37 billion yuan) from the second quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2014. Japanese media report that three former presidents of Toshiba, including former president Hisao Tanaka, prioritized profits above all else, referring to goals that would be impossible to achieve under normal business conditions as \"challenges,\" thereby forcing their subordinates to inflate profits. A dike a thousand miles long can collapse because of an ant hole; the successive cases of fraud in various industries in Japan have shocked people regarding the concept of \"Made in Japan\". What was it that shattered the myth of “Made in Japan”? What caused the collapse of the reputation built up by “Made in Japan” over the years? One factor is Japan’s weak economy, which has led businesses to enter an era focused on maximizing profits. In recent years, the Japanese economy has remained sluggish. The so-called \"Abenomics\" pursued by Abe can be said to have failed. Pressure to survive is increasing in various industries in Japan. Some scholars say that Japan has now entered an \"era of profit-seeking.\" Some businesses, in an effort to cut costs and maximize profits, start passing off inferior products as good ones, deceiving customers. Second is the lack of long-term supervision. Whether it’s the car fraud scandal, Toshiba’s financial fraud cases, substandard construction in buildings, or the mislabeling of products as organic when they are not, these are not isolated incidents involving individual companies; rather, they represent a series of ongoing frauds that have persisted over several years, even nearly 10 years, and to some extent have become a common practice. The fact that companies have been able to get away with such practices for so long also reflects Japan’s inadequate or even non-existent long-term regulation of businesses, doesn’t it? After the scandal came to light, the executives of various related companies bowed 90 degrees in apology at media meetings, and some even resigned as a form of taking responsibility. But how can bows and resignations restore the reputation that a company has built over decades? Moreover, the successive exposure of major fraud cases shows that the lessons learned from these incidents have not served as a warning to other companies. With fraud emerging in every aspect of daily life – clothing, food, housing, and transportation – the reputation barrier of Japanese manufacturing has begun to crumble, and the myth of \"Made in Japan\" has been shattered.