Carlos Ghosn arrested

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Well, Mr. Ghosn has certainly told his side of the story here! And it's great that he was able to reunite with his wife, in Lebanon.

I didn't listen to all of his approx. 2-1/2 hour press conference, but I listened to enough to know that he seemed primarily interested in indicting the Japanese criminal justice system and those at Nissan who conspired to have him arrested.

Let's hope that the harsh spotlight of publicity on the inhumane treatment of the accused in the Japanese justice system results in reforms. While the Japanese place a strong value on tradition in their culture, I still would like to believe that hope is not completely naive.
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Some interesting insights into why the Japanese government was meddling in the affairs of the Nissan/Renault alliance.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/C...y-thinks-about-Ghosn-Nissan-s-maverick-savior

"There is a widely held belief, within Nissan and the METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), that the relationship between Nissan and Renault is lopsided and needs to be corrected," says Kato. The fear was that Nissan would become a "cash dispenser" for the French group, developing French-owned rather than Japanese technology. That goes to the heart of how METI regards its oversight role in the economy.

To outsiders, it is an alien idea that Renault's stake in Nissan should be "corrected" because its bet in 1999 paid off better than Japan expected. But within Japan, there have been changes to capital structures when a subsidiary was doing better than its parent. Kato cites the examples of Seven-Eleven Japan, which was owned by the Ito-Yokado supermarket chain, and Fuji Television Network and Nippon Broadcasting System. Japanese officials would have liked to see the same approach at Nissan, he says. METI says that it is observing events at Nissan and Renault, but any changes are a matter for the companies.
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What’s interesting to note is as far as my research goes METI is the main proponent of the hydrogen based society.

With Ghosn gone will the METI get Nissan to tow the party line?
 
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gooki said:
Some interesting insights into why the Japanese government was meddling in the affairs of the Nissan/Renault alliance.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/C...y-thinks-about-Ghosn-Nissan-s-maverick-savior



What’s interesting to note is as far as my research goes METI is the main proponent of the hydrogen based society.

With Ghosn gone will the METI get Nissan to tow the party line?
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Really great article, thanks!

It seems Ghosn was far more effective originally, with his emphasis on saving money (and the company) than later on when trying to make the more structural changes needed to get the Alliance to live up to its potential.

Product-wise, I like that he made the big investment in electrification, but later decisions (or lack thereof) left me somewhat dissatisfied. When it comes to EVs, the disruptive mindset is needed, and sometimes that means disrupting yourself. For example, it became clear some years ago that continuing with the CHAdeMO fast-charge standard wasn't in the company's long-term interest. And while I'm very happy that the production version of the Nissan Ariya will be coming in the next year or so, there really should have been a crossover in the lineup already (a lot of this may have to do with their battery technology and the company's relationship with closely-held suppliers).
p.s. I should start a thread about Nissan's electrification plans in that sub-forum so as to keep this thread focused on the Ghosn situation, but I just wanted to quickly unload this as well, since I spent last week with Nissan at CES and have been thinking a lot about their situation.
 
Domenick said:
It seems Ghosn was far more effective originally, with his emphasis on saving money (and the company) than later on when trying to make the more structural changes needed to get the Alliance to live up to its potential.
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Agreed. Although I do not know if this lack of effectiveness is due to Ghosn putting in less effort, being occupied with other issues, or Nissan management obstructing progress. I'm surprised that Nissan/Renault do not share platforms.

Also if you look at the charts Nissan was still growing until Ghosn stepped down as CEO in 2017.
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gooki said:
Some interesting insights into why the Japanese government was meddling in the affairs of the Nissan/Renault alliance.
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All this high-stakes, ruthless gamesmanship by Nissan execs and/or the METI, reminds me of a saying which it's said was commonplace in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s: "Business is war".

I find Japanese culture to be endlessly fascinating, but to some extent it really is so alien that I find it difficult or impossible to understand their way of thinking. I suppose it's hopelessly politically incorrect to say "inscrutable orientals" these days, but it certainly expresses how I often feel about their behavior! (Also, I've never understood why the label "oriental" should be considered insulting or racist. But that's just me.)
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I find Japanese culture to be endlessly fascinating, but to some extent it really is so alien that I find it difficult or impossible to understand their way of thinking
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It's mostly their business culture I find hard to understand.

One of my University friends worked in Japan for several years in software development. I recall him telling stories where is boss would cry simply because my friend would openly disagree with him.

A few years ago we lost a 10 million dollar contract with a Japanese bank because unknown to us our Japanese reseller, wasn't showing the client regular updates. So much expectation to get it perfect first go (and because they don't question senior staff they communicated the wrong requirements to us), vs the modern agile method where you iterate and continually present to get to the best solution.
 
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gooki said:
It's mostly their business culture I find hard to understand.

One of my University friends worked in Japan for several years in software development. I recall him telling stories where is boss would cry simply because my friend would openly disagree with him.
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Westerners and Japanese certainly have very different norms of social interactions, and that applies to business interactions too. In Japan, it's considered rude to directly say "No" to anything. There's a line in the movie "Black Rain" that's relevant here: "Look, I've been living in this country for seven years, and I still can't read the headlines. 'Yes' means 'no'. 'Maybe' means 'never'."

Another difference is that in a business meeting, Americans generally want to "get down to business" rather quickly after greetings are exchanged, whereas the Japanese play a waiting game, with the "loser" being the side that starts talking about matters of substance first.

I also found memorable a story about Westerners in Japan filming the "Shogun" miniseries. There was a particular day when the film crew wanted to work, but for some reason they couldn't get any of the Japanese to commit to work that day. It being the Japanese, no one would directly say "No" to them, but despite multiple attempts they couldn't find any of the Japanese who were willing to work that day. Later, someone finally took pity on them and explained that the day in question was the Emperor's birthday, which in Japan is a national holiday. But none of the Japanese had explained that to the (ignorant) Westerners, leading to nothing but frustration on their part. Instead of giving the crew the day off, as would have been sensible, they wasted their time trying to get work done but not being able to.

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!
--Rudyard Kipling
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Ghosn was right we he said he could be waiting up to 5 years before facing trial.

Gohara said a separate trial over aggravated breach of trust would likely drag on for years as prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to prove Ghosn was guilty of crimes including temporarily shifting a personal money-losing currency transaction onto Nissan's books.
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gooki said:
Why was it removed? What is Masako afraid off?
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Hmmm... just a guess from a round-eyed outside observer, but my guess would be that Masako's superiors in the government don't like the controversy generated by the publicity over how Ghosn was treated -- and the fact that it seems to be the norm there. I doubt it has anything to do with Masako being "afraid" of anything. Controversy means embarrassment, which I think most people know the Japanese try to avoid at all costs.

“The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” -- Japanese proverb
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gooki said:
How does Japan justify arresting someone without trial for 2-3 years?
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Very simple, everyone knows what the verdict is. So what if you have to wait 2-3 years to be told that. In practice, Japanese courts follow the guilty until proven innocent doctrine. Goshn may have believed that he was not going to get a fair trial anyway as they have 100% conviction rate

The win rate for the prosecutors is very important. So they have a lot of power and will go to court only when they are 100% sure they will win which would include a pliable judge. Maybe they realized that this was not going to be a slam dunk with the worlds press looking at it and kept wanting to put it off till some other resolution was found.

Also, not a conspiracy theorist like @101101 but could the Olympics have something to do with it? That they do not want a public spectacle and claims that they are being unfair before the Olympics. Face is very important in Japan.




Order in the Court: Explaining Japan’s 99.9% Conviction Rate
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-top...-explaining-japan’s-99-9-conviction-rate.html
 
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