Japan’s transport authorities are planning to tighten rules related to vehicle recalls, responding to criticism that insufficient government oversight in the nation’s recall process may have contributed to delays in the handling of safety problems at Toyota Motor Corp.

Transport minister Seiji Maehara said Tuesday the government will review several aspects of the recall system with an eye toward strengthening its authority and capability in gathering information on vehicle problems and enforcing remedial action when necessary.

Researchers at Japan’s Kobe Gakuin University are developing a levitating chair that hovers on a small cushion of air.
The floating chair is being developed for elderly Japanese by Tsunesuke Furuta and others at the university’s rehabilitation department.
The prototype, inspired by arcade air hockey, seems to consist of an air compressor that shoots jets of air out of many openings beneath a sports-style car seat on a platform.
The seat can be swapped for a zabuton, a Japanese floor cushion. When kneeling on it, users can move around by dragging themselves across …

Japanese agriculture is in a free-fall decline. In the years between 1960 and 2005, the share of agricultural output in gross domestic product (GDP) dropped from 9% to 1%, the food self-sufficiency ratio from 79% to 41%, and agricultural land, indispensable for food security, from 6.09 million hectares to 4.63 million hectares.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda, under fire for his handling of massive safety recalls, was expected to leave Japan Saturday for the United States where he faces a grilling in front of a hostile Congress. The head of the embattled Japanese automaker has bowed to calls to appear in front of US lawmakers after an initial reluctance, a flip flop that has drawn further criticism and added to impressions of a public relations disaster.

Former regulators hired by Toyota Motor Corp. helped end at least four U.S. investigations of unintended acceleration by company vehicles in the last decade, warding off possible recalls, court and government records show.

Christopher Tinto, vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Christopher Santucci, who works for Tinto, helped persuade the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to end probes including those of 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras, court documents show.

Meet Yuki-taro, a self-guided, GPS and camera equipped robot snowplow that somehow manages to look as cute as Pokemon’s Pikachu – this is Japan, after all!
Snow? In Japan? Yes indeed, and not just on top of Mount Fuji. Some parts of northern Japan can receive a surprising amount of snow in wintertime, enough to block roads and isolate people living in mountain villages. Elderly people in particular are at risk in these areas, both from being shut-in and from trying to shovel all the snow. That’s where “Yuki-taro, the friendly …

Senior Japanese auto industry executives are watching the frenzy surrounding the recall of millions of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles closely amid fears it could escalate into a political battle between the United States and Japan.
“I hope it’s not going to be a U.S. versus Japan kind of political issue,” Takashi Yamanouchi, chief executive officer of Mazda Motor Corp., said in an interview yesterday at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

There is heavy criticism of Toyota in the United States, said Mr. Yamanouchi, who noted that “cars are still …

Another Round of recalls, but this time it’s Honda.
The U.S. arm of Japan’s Honda Motor Co. will recall 378,758 vehicles in the United States, including Accords and Civics, to replace the driver’s airbag inflator. American Honda Motor Co. said the driver’s airbag inflators in these vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which could cause the inflator casing to rupture, possibly resulting in injury or death, the company said.
12 incidents have been reported as of Feb 10th, 2009. A quick response such as this from motor companies …

Toyota will recall 270,000 Prius hybrid vehicles over brake problems in the United States and Japan, a report said Friday, while the beleaguered auto giant launched an investigation into possible problems with the brakes in two more hybrids including the luxury Lexus.
The recall would affect the new Prius hybrid model, and Toyota Motor Corp. would soon notify Japan’s transport ministry and the U.S. Department of Transportation of the recall, Japan’s top business newspaper, Nihon Keizai, said Friday.

“I deeply regret that I caused concern among so many people,” Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation, said at a news conference on Friday. “We will do our utmost to regain the trust of our customers.”

He also pledged that the Japanese automaker would soon announce steps to address brake problems on the 2010 Prius.