Seppuku in Washington (after Yukio Mishima)

Toyota’s President to Take ‘Full Responsibility’

-- The New York Times 2/24/10


Already his his acolytes have distanced themselves; they will not meet his eyes. He is shunned, a disgraced Lord; his Samuria are now Ronin: warriors with no Lord to serve. A dishonor he alone has visited upon them. Akio Toyoda winces at the camera lights that fill the Senate chamber, like so many suns hining upon a desert with no sign of life. No oasis with cool water to slake his shame.

Akio Toyoda knows what he must do. His firstborn son also knows the terrible part he must play in this final act of utter responsibility. The boy, Sesue Toyoda secrets his father the short tanto blade beneath the desk with the microphone. Sesue Toyoda's own katana lies naked and hidden against his back; the cold steel chills the length his spine.

Akio Toyoda has takes the questions, answers with the dignity of an ex-warrior Lord and utters the words, "I accept full responsibility." With that, he plunges the razor-sharp knife just below his navel and pulls it upward with great force. The pain has little time to become unbearable as Sesue Toyada's katana completes its arc and severs head of his father, Akio Toyoda in the senate chamber.

Through a final act of honor within his dishonor, Tooda, the warrior expunges the blighted reputation of Toyota the corporation before the eyes of the senators and the people they represent. Ronin are once again Samurai and bow in supplication to their new Lord, Sesue Toyoda. If called upon, they will die for him.