On January 15, 2024, an outside doctor told Kobayashi Pharmaceutical that people who had taken its supplements containing red yeast rice, beni kōji, were suspected of suffering health damage. The company began a voluntary recall about two months later and made the damage public on March 22.
The governing party Komeito called the two-month delay deeply regrettable. Clear deadlines for reporting such cases, set by severity, were then planned.
Jizen hōkoku (事前報告): a report to the people concerned before something happens.
Jigo hōkoku (事後報告): a report of the result after something is finished. A Japanese business magazine notes that a report after the fact is often acceptable, but that a report in advance is safer when a deal changes or needs confirmation.
In Japan, when a company’s promissory bill is dishonored for the second time within six months of the first, the clearing house suspends its transactions. For two years from that day, the banks in the clearing house may not do business with it.
Noren ni kizu ga tsuku (暖簾に傷がつく): the shop curtain is damaged. The noren is the cloth curtain at a shop’s entrance. The word also means the credit and standing of the shop, built up over many years of business. A damaged noren means that the shop’s credit has been harmed.
Hōrensō means spinach. It is also made of the first syllables of three workplace words: hōkoku (report), renraku (inform) and sōdan (consult).
Around 1982, Yamazaki Tomiji, president of Yamatane Securities, started a “spinach campaign” in his company. His book on it, Hōrensō ga kaisha o tsuyoku suru (Spinach Makes a Company Strong), appeared in 1986. One account says the idea came from his father.
On a Toyota assembly line, a worker who notices a problem activates the andon and calls a supervisor. If the problem can be fixed on the spot, the line keeps running. If not, the line stops at a set position.
The system rests on three conditions. A worker can call. When someone calls, a person always comes. The person who called is not blamed.
Ishin denshin (以心伝心): from mind to mind. In Zen Buddhism, passing on the deepest teaching from the heart of the master to the heart of the disciple, without words or writing. In everyday use, understanding each other without words.
In 2000, it became known that Mitsubishi Motors had hidden defect reports from customers and repaired vehicles in secret.
On January 10, 2002, a wheel came off a Mitsubishi truck in Yokohama and struck a mother and her two children. The mother, 29, died. The company blamed poor maintenance. In March 2004, it withdrew that explanation and announced a recall. In April 2004, police arrested seven former top executives of Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso.
Article 248 of Japan’s Code of Criminal Procedure lets a prosecutor decide not to indict. The prosecutor weighs the offender’s character, age and circumstances, the gravity and circumstances of the crime, and “the situation after the offense.”
Defense lawyers advise that a settlement with the victim, jidan, with an apology and compensation, is the most important step toward a suspended sentence. It shows that the offender is remorseful and that the harm has been repaired.
A Japanese person who goes to apologize in person often brings a kashi-ori, a box of sweets. A Japanese lifestyle guide calls this a custom unique to Japan, and notes the saying that “the weight of the sweets is the weight of the feeling.”
Very expensive sweets are avoided, because they can suggest an attempt to settle the matter with things. Another guide advises keeping the gift out of sight at first and handing it over only after the apology has been accepted.