TOYOTA CITY, Japan (CNN) -- On what was to be a historic day halting all of Toyota's Japanese assembly lines, the automaker announced late Thursday that it kept one line running.

The late news sent copy editors and reporters to their laptops erasing headlines like "historic shutdown," but it did little to quell the pain for the tens of the thousands of workers idled across Japan as nearly every Toyota line stopped producing autos and auto-related equipment.

Nowhere was the silence more deafening than in Toyota City, home and birthplace to Toyota Motor Corp. (TM). Factories were shuttered and workers idled in an attempt to bring production in line with falling global demand.

The day was particularly ominous for assembly line worker Takayuki Yoshikawa, who has already been told he's out of a job and back home in May. Yoshikawa lives in a Toyota-owned dormitory.

"I don't know what to do," said Yoshikawa. "I could go back to my hometown, but there are no jobs there, either."

Toyota, now the world's largest automaker, plans 10 more days like this, spread out over the next two months. Toyota's incoming president, Akio Toyoda, called the current economy "unprecedented, the likes of which haven't been seen in 100 years."
Toyota also said the scheduled assembly line shutdowns are an attempt to save what jobs the automaker can.

"The production suspensions scheduled for Japan in February and March are part of our effort to keep production in line with market demand," the company said. "We are carrying out these suspensions fully aware of the necessity to even out production volumes and maintain employment levels."

Analysts say while painful, these shutdowns may be unavoidable. "Everywhere, almost everywhere, things are getting worse and worse and worse," said Koji Endo, a Credit Suisse (CS) auto analyst. "Under that kind of circumstance, you have to control your cost. Maybe try to shrink temporarily."

The cost control is having a damaging effect on Toyota City public coffers. The city of 400,000, located about 150 miles southwest of Tokyo, estimates 90% of its tax dollars will evaporate as Toyota loses money and pays less corporate taxes.

It comes at a time when Toyota City is seeing historic levels of unemployment. This region, according to city hall, carries the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of unemployment in Japan.

Alberto Dilone, already fired from a Toyota parts subsidiary, showed up at the Toyota City job center to search for a new job Thursday.

"Kubi," Dilone said, slicing a finger across his throat. The Japanese expression means cut or fired.

Dilone said half the people in his plant have been fired and jobs in Toyota City are scarce. Like the hundreds of unemployed filtering through the employment center everyday, he left with no leads.

 

how many people out there actually f****d up so badly that we're all in this mess?

 

Ok if you read the article, basically its temporarily shut down, they didn't loose their jobs.

 

so, i assume less imported scions?

 

hmmm... wonder which plant line continued to run... Scion mebbe?

 

Instead of cuting the lowest man on the hirachey line making the least income, they should cut out an executive or a few managers and combine depts/lines.

I am in Richmond, VA, home to Capital One, (Criminal One) and every quarter when they arent going to meet earnings, BAM, they cut 1200-3000 jobs, so customer service suffers for existing custs, but they meet expectations, then they hire back.

Like he said, they are just cutting hours/days so everyone works, but they worse less and get paid less. Many jobs are cutting hours, giving extra vacation/days off without pay to help them exist without firing or laying anyone off.

At my job they are firing the bottom 3 performers. Look to your left, look to your right, the person in front of you and behind. Now look in 3 other directions, 3 of the people you just saw will not be working here next month. Yeah, sounds cheesy and possibility ripped from a movie, but thats the word where I work.

 

I want to word in that work

 

gonna get worse before better

 

ain't that the truth...

 

At my job, you dropped a minor ball. You're canned!

The company NEVER fired anyone unless you really p!ssed them off.

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We're pretty much screwed! Its gonna take YEARS to pick up this damn mess.

 

everybody is down but Hyundai is up in sales lately. i've been unemployed since September. and im really REALLY feeling it now. and its not a good feeling.

 

Since September??? Yeah, if I am canned I can float a few months on my 401k and some savings.

My only advice is to read the local paper wanted ads in the classified section. Thats where I found most of my jobs I have worked.

 

xD's are made in a Daihatsu factory... what about other Scions? I wonder if the Daihatsu line is shut down, too.

 

It's not that simple, most of the people that make it to the top have close to no emotion and would rather see people around them fail then themselves going through some pain. Most managers would not give up their hours and more importantly their paid to help out other people, always put yourself first. Just though I’ll share my opinion

 

Yeah. My job is just not hiring just combining people, teams, etc.

Working for a bank you cant have emotions as credit and other things are based on credit scores, history, check systems, not the actual use. Sadly to say, no one can really borrow money when its needed as at that time their debt to income ratio is off and their credit score is low from missing bills or late payments.

To make matters worse, we now have to sell and for the most part you cant sell anything to someone who is broke or over drawn with screwed up credit and all they care about are sales or your out of there.

[quote="VN909KALIBOIIt's not that simple, most of the people that make it to the top have close to no emotion and would rather see people around them fail then themselves going through some pain. Most managers would not give up their hours and more importantly their paid to help out other people, always put yourself first. Just though I’ll share my opinion[/quote]

 

I work at a toyota dealership and it's pretty bad. There has been a lot of people being cut and a lot of cut hours. The sad thing is that they are saying things will get worse.

 

You guys commission only? Man, I cant imagine that life. Yeah, part is lack of income other part is the fear factor. Ive held of modding my b incase I have to give it back or its repo.