Toyota Group Representative Akio Toyoda said, “When I was President of Toyota Motor Corporation, my driving force was my love for Japan. I hope that Japan will continue to be a country that is needed by the world. When I learned that Japanese entertainment is also trying to compete globally for Japan, it made me genuinely want to support it. Toyota vehicles have stories and music also has stories. What is even more interesting is that each person who drives or listens has their own story as well. We want to make cars more emotional, so I feel that Toyota has much more to learn from music.”

“I truly respect people like Ichiro Suzuki, who have achieved just that and are recognized around the world. I was really happy to hear the recent news of his election into the Hall of Fame, and so I took out an ad congratulating him. Ichiro, if you’re watching, please let me know when you’ll be in the office so I can congratulate you in person! And it’s not just in baseball. Young Japanese people such as basketball player Rui Hachimura and, actor Anna Sawai, and many others have also been working hard, and I’m very excited to see their achievements. Just this morning, Anna Sawai was awarded Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Another congratulations to Anna! I am always excited to see these young people’s success. I see many fans cheering enthusiastically for the Japanese national team during the WBC and World Cup. I myself once represented Japan in field hockey 50 years ago” said Toyoda.

*CEIPA

CEIPA (The Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association) says it is an organization crossing organizational boundaries comprising five major entities in the music industry: the Recording Industry Association of Japan, the Japan Association of Music Enterprises, the Federation of Music Producers Japan, the Music Publishers Association of Japan, and the All Japan Concert and Live Entertainment Promoters Conference. They established CEIPA to contribute to the sustainable growth of Japan’s arts and culture industries by promoting projects that will revitalize these industries and expand talent development and cultural dissemination activities, thereby achieving the globalization and digitization that Japan’s arts and culture industries must do to survive. CEIPA will hold the Music Awards Japan in May 2025 as one of its main projects to disseminate music from Japan and other Asian countries to the world, increasing Japanese music culture’s global reputation, while also promoting the entry of overseas artists into the Japanese market. The Toyota Group will be a sponsor of this event.