TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will set up a “new forum for dialogue” with the automotive industry during a visit to a Toyota Motor plant on Friday.
Kishida visited Toyota’s Motomachi Plant in Aichi Prefecture. After observing the automobile inspection process, Kishida spoke with company President Akio Toyoda and Toyota employees. Kishida said a forum for dialogue between him, relevant cabinet ministers and top executives of automobile companies would be set up in the fall or later.
“The public and private sectors will work together to solve social problems and pursue economic growth,” Kishida told reporters.
It is unusual for a sitting prime minister to visit a Toyota plant. Kishida said he recognized that “even as we move toward decarbonization, automobiles are a growth industry in Japan and a major pillar of our clean energy strategy.”
He said the visit was not purposely timed for the upcoming upper house election, which will be publicly announced on June 22 with voting to be held on July 10.
Toyota agreed to the labor union’s pay hike demands during this year’s spring wage talks. Kishida said “the government must also maintain and develop the trend of wage increases.”
Aichi Prefecture has been a stronghold of the former Democratic Party of Japan in national elections, backed by the labor union of Toyota and others. But in the 2021 lower house election, a candidate from Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party won the first primary election in the 11th district of the Aichi Prefectural House of Representatives, which includes Toyota City, after a candidate from Toyota’s labor union did not run for office.
LDP Vice President Taro Aso met with Toyota President Toyoda at the party headquarters on June 10. They exchanged views on the automobile industry.
In January, Kishida met auto mechanics at a Nissan Motor dealership in Tokyo. He also met with Makoto Uchida, Nissan’s president, at the prime minister’s official residence in April.