One year after the magnitude 7 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula, Toyota and the town of Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture signed a cooperation agreement that sprung from the company’s earthquake response work.

During the disaster, Toyota sent its disaster response specialist, Senior Fellow Masashi Asakura to help. He has spearheaded many disaster response teams to support Toyota plants in affected regions, including during the 2022 flooding in South Africa. 

This time, it’s not a plant but a town that he’s helping with recovery. Through the lens of the Toyota Production System (TPS), he worked at improving the way supplies sent from all over Japan were delivered to residents.

Helping out at the genba were Toyota’s former pro athletes. Asakura jokes, “They eat twice as much, but they work five times as hard.” They began by taking the 4S approach, a kaizen basic: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, and Standardize.

After that, work that required people to squat down was elevated so it could be done standing comfortably. A room that had been jam-packed with items was organized so people could move smoothly. Delivery truck routes were redesigned to go from 18 trips per day down to six. The number of workers decreased from 60 to 20, and staff were finally able to take time off.

Toyota used another of its strengths to support the town. Members of Toyota’s sports teams deepened connections with people in the affected area through sports.

In Nakanoto, former members of Japan’s national women’s softball team came to teach a softball workshop for elementary and junior high school students.

Even now, one year later, they are unable to use their home field due to landslides, and the children can’t practice as much as they would like. Learning from athletes they admire, the children beamed with joy in being able to play softball.

In March, at a home game for Toyota’s rugby team, Verblitz, Shika Town held a product fair to further deepen connections.

Senior Fellow Asakura says, “I hope we can keep up a long relationship, however small.”

Toyota has treated recovery support not as a one-off, but as an ongoing commitment, an approach rooted in Akio Toyoda’s presidency.

What can Toyota do to become a company loved in local areas and needed as the “best-in-town?” Toyota continues its steady efforts on the ground, listening closely to voices in the affected areas. We hope you can feel the Toyota spirit in these life-size initiatives.