BookTitleToyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Summary

Toyota Tsusho 70-Year History

Chapter 2The End of the War andthe Postwar RecoverySection 1 Wartime StrugglesToyota Sangyo’s temporary office building(on the right) in the midst of the scorchedMiyukihonmachi-dori, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi(currently, Marunouchi)1 Headquarters Reduced to Ashes by Air RaidIn the Pacific War, which began in 1941, Japan achieved success in battle atthe beginning, but slowly the tables turned, and defeat became more likely. From1944, the air raids on mainland Japan by American B-29 bombers intensified,and in December 13, an air raid on Nagoya Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.,and other targets were bombed. Before long, the US military switched fromconcentrated bombings of munitions factories to dropping incendiary bombson general urban areas, and by the end of the war there had been 38 air raids onNagoya, which turned the city to ashes.The largest air raid was on March 19, 1945. The Toyota Sangyo headquartersbuilding in Shinsakae-machi, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, was destroyed. Unfortunately,Kenkichi Takeuchi, the auditor, died of a heart attack while trying to extinguishthe fire that had spread to his home. In the midst of all of that, Tojiro Okamotoand all of the other employees worked frantically to remove important documentsfrom the Toyota Sangyo headquarters, and on the day after the air raid atemporary office was established on the site of the company’s former headquartersin Miyukihonmachi, Nishi-ku, which had been spared from the flames, andwork resumed. Despite suffering from many more air raids, the 17th PeriodicShareholders meeting was held on May 29, where the financial statements wereapproved and a dividend of 6% for the year was decided on. This was the lastsettlement of accounts before the end of the war.2 Air Raid Damage and the End of the WarOn August 15, 1945, Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration, and the eightyears of war that stretched from the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in China tothe end of the Pacific War came to a close. The Japanese economy sufferedtremendous losses in the war, and the Toyota Group companies that were forced toaid the war effort as munitions factories were no exception. The Koromo plant ofToyota Motor Co., Ltd. suffered damage in an air raid on August 14 that destroyedabout one-quarter of the plant. Restoration work had just started when the warended.The feeling of weakness and the great anxiety about the future among theJapanese people were some of the most serious issues the Toyota Group faced.Even Kiichiro Toyoda, who had noticed the great difference in productivitybetween the U.S. and Europe and Japan from his experiences visiting thosecountries twice, and who foresaw Japan’s defeat from the early days of the war,was greatly shocked by the state of a country that had been defeated, and for40