Blue skies at Makuhari

The forward-looking concept cars at the Tokyo Motor Show point to a brighter, more fuel-efficient future.

Amere stone's throw-or a ball's hit-from the Makuhari Messe, the home of the biennial Tokyo International Motor Show, is another home, the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team's Marine Stadium. The Marines had won the Japanese Pacific League pennant, the team's first in 31 years. During opening week of the Tokyo Show (and creating the fiercest traffic jams ever in the area), the team resoundingly defeated the Central League winner Hanshin Tigers in the Japan-Series Championship, our equivalent to the American World Series, under the superb leadership of Bobby Valentine, a former major league player and manager (the New York Mets and Texas Rangers).

The Japanese automobile industry is doing fine, with record profits reported by the major players, notably Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. New vehicle sales had marked increases in the past two years and continue to be brisk throughout 2005. The Japanese industry is not entirely free from the ailments that afflict their Western counterparts. Even mighty Toyota noted that, while it had achieved record profits, its profit-to-cost ratio had deteriorated. The causes cited are familiar ones: heavy incentives in the all-important U.S. market; component and material cost hikes, notably of steel; and massive investments required in new vehicle developments and manufacturing facilities. Vigorous belt-tightening is underway in all quarters of the industry, without impairing traditional strengths in engineering, performance, quality, safety, and customer benefits.