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Comment by DevX101 | Hacker News Reader

Call me a cynic, but the fact that this witchhunt happened during the very short timeframe where the government owned GM and had a significant incentive to show returns on the 'bailout' investment makes me think there was more to the regulatory investigation than public safety.

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I mentioned this multiple times in the midst of the whole fiasco but always felt like a kook for even bringing it up.

Me too. I'm also here to say "told you so" to the many, many people who refused to listen. Fortunately, Toyota knew how fickle Americans are, and weathered the storm patiently. After all, we do buy their cars in the end!

I think Toyota actually believes in something powerful called value.

There have been times when I've thought some companies and people believe, "It's all bullshit and perception!" There have been times when people have told me that flat-out and have tried to motivate me to follow them under that assumption.

"Whited sepulchre" comes to mind.

Same here. I'm not a conspiracy nut but let's face it -- it would only take a dozen or so well placed back channel e-mails to get things rolling. Suddenly everyone else is obligated to talk about it because it's the big story. Full echo chamber effect. My guess would be more of a commercially driven agenda though especially for the commercial news media that pays the bills with auto advertising. Throughout the witch hunt I'm sure their ad buys from Toyota didn't suffer at all and they helped secure their long term US interests. Win-win situation.

The public clearly saw the same ham-handed manipulation of the press during the whole Valerie Plame debacle. The same sort of thing is made obvious in most of the Daily Show episodes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent:_The_Poli...

You don't have to read the whole thing. Just find the parts where they do empirical comparisons. It becomes very obvious that the western press is a propaganda machine -- just the slick "free market" version.

And that is pretty much why I gave up reading news.

You don't have to know what is going on outside your field, and it is so much more peaceful not knowing all the dangers that are going to kill you (but never really happen).

Actually, it was about Okinawa. The previous PM of Japan, Hatoyama, made loud noises about forcing the U.S. to move it's military base off of Okinawa ("The time has come for us to seek a more equal relationship with the U.S." @see http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1978647,00....), and the Toyota episode was a way to slap the wayward child on it's hand and show him who's daddy.

After Japan cried "enough" and sent Hatoyama packing, things slowly started to return to "normal".

Toyota ADRs have rallied 19% since Hatoyama's resignation.

Also, by the way, there is a small U.S. presence (not 100% sure if it military or otherwise), but there is a clear area right in the middle of Tokyo in the Roppongi area which seems to be reserved for U.S. personnel. You can see helicopters (and they sure as hell looked military) land there regularly from the top of the Mori Tower building. The "H" for the helipad is quite visible even on Google Maps in Satellite mode, and whenever I saw a U.S. helicopter land there, I used to wonder how any country can be such a puppet to another and still act "free". The lack of awareness and discussion about that area and the lack of access to it by everyday Japanese spoke tons about the Japan-U.S. relationship. I believe Hatoyama stood for the right thing.

The lack of awareness and discussion about that area and the lack of access to it by everyday Japanese spoke tons about the Japan-U.S. relationship.

I should hope so, given that it's the US Embassy.

The US Embassy compound is on the Akasaka side of Roppongi and the Embassy itself is towards Toranomon. There is also a small US Army base between Roppongi and the Aoyama graveyard, right next to the new National Museum.

FWIW, it's not just the Japanese that can not get into that base, civilian US citizens will also probably find trouble getting in. Which is a bummer since the PX there sells affordable cuts of meat.

> There is also a small US Army base between Roppongi and the Aoyama graveyard, right next to the new National Museum.

Thanks. I finally found an article mentioning it : http://www.jpri.org/publications/friends/mcneill_JT_05-09-06...

No, it is not merely an Embassy. It is a U.S. Military presence. I finally found an article with a photo and more concrete details : http://www.jpri.org/publications/friends/mcneill_JT_05-09-06...

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