Good morning everyone.
Thank you for taking the time and trouble of coming all this way to the Toyota Higashi-Fuji Plant here in Eastern Japan.
Now originally, this was a press shop.
And as some of you may know, it was the factory where Shoichiro Toyoda and Nakamura Kenya created the first Century in 1967.
The spirit of invention that was born here is now reborn as the Inventor Garage of Woven City, a facility for creating the future.
Now today will be a celebration of not only invention but of something that I know we all love: a celebration of the car.
The excitement, the thrill, the love for speed, all things I think, everyone in this room and everyone watching online shares a passion for.
But as with many things in life, a story of strength begins with a story of what is called in Japanese kuyashisa–humiliation.
And I want to tell you about this from two viewpoints.
I have been working as a designer for 36 years, and I can honestly say that as a designer, there is nothing more painful than being told that what you have put your heart and soul into is boring.
14 years ago at Pebble Beach in America, that is exactly what happened when Akio was told on his visit there, “Lexus is boring.”
That feeling of humiliation was a turning point, and it became a source of determination.
