Having worked at Toyota in the US for 4 years, I’m disappointed but not necessarily surprised.
Japanese managers, even executives transferred to the US, forget that they are in America and not Japan.
If Ms. Kobayashi’s story is true, and it rings true for me even just from this relatively short article, it will be an expensive but important lesson for Toyota and TMS.
Sexual harassment in the workplace in Japan is a whole other story that I won’t cover here.
Toyota Official Is on Leave After Harassment Charge – New York Times
I don’t like stereotypes, but the Japanese just lend themselves to it in so many ways. Eating fish and noodles, love of baseball and pro-wrestlers, and often scary, dare I say, acceptance of sexual misconduct.