Omotenashi, Kaiseki, Takumi: Toyota's noble daughter wants to again strengthened with crafts and services that build on ancient Japanese traditions. For this, some employees first have to become masters in paper folds.
Who belongs to the around 4.000 people who will buy a Lexus in Germany 2019, can be sure: His vehicle has received plenty of attention. The associated expense can be justified by the Japanese with country-typical traditions.
"We have developed certain demands and skills for hundreds of years," says Lexus boss Yoshihiro Sawa about his compatriots. They should become more noticeable in the future. With Omotenashi, for example: If you go to a department store in Japan, get in a taxi or even buy an apple, you will experience Japanese hospitality live. Bow, smile, anticipate and fulfill wishes - even those that the customer himself has no idea about. The apple is packaged like a luxury watch, the taxi driver with his white gloves opens the door remotely, in the department store every seller brings the customer three storeys higher to the shelf with the desired goods. It would be a personal shame if the visitor wasn't happy.
The whole thing must never be intrusive - the principle of “serviceable spirit” is more appropriate. In the car dealership, for example, all employees meet in the morning to get to know the registered customers and their preferences. If the customer then drives to the yard, a camera scans his car number and notifies the welcoming committee. Two sweetly smiling receptionists can greet him with a bow and by name and offer the green tea that the customer chose during the last visit seven months ago. Of course, the children get a small gift - maybe a hand-folded paper crane. The customer is a guest, here he is a bit at home.
In the Lexus top-of-the-line LS, for example, the hospitality is shown in that the car, which is also common in other luxury-class vehicles, automatically selects the steering wheel, seats, massage functions, music or ventilation the way the driver liked it last. And at the curb, the air suspension raises the car so that it is particularly easy to get on and off. Seats and steering wheel also drive to the optimum position.
The classic Kaiseki dinner is also a role model for Sawa. A banquet in Japan consists of much more than just exquisite food and the right sake: If you sit on the tatami straw mat in light blue or pink yukata dressing gown and of course without shoes, you can expect an artwork. In the sheer endless range of small dishes, each ingredient is selected so that it has the optimum freshness and ripeness exactly on that day and in the region of the inn. Every Shiso spice leaf, every wafer-thin slice of Fugu fish is arranged on the plates as it is painted. For this, the master chef has also learned ten years how to fillet the fish without teasing the poisonous innards - and even a rice cooker needs six months of training before it is released to the guest.
The Lexus makers approach their production with a similarly keen eye for detail. At the Kyushu plant, for example, specialists for sensing gaps have at least 25 years of professional experience - and have to prove them every day. In the mornings before work, the 19 chosen among 7.700 workers on a model must be able to feel the distances between the sheets or their height down to the tenth of a millimeter. If that doesn't work, they have to go to another job. The body then caresses a more sensitive colleague to discover irregularities.
On the other hand, anyone who wants to accurately attach the sashiko stitching for the leather seats of the compact SUV UX should have mastered the art of paper folding best since childhood: Here Lexus only lets those seamers who have previously passed the origami test to have. Fold a cat out of a sheet of paper in 90 seconds - but only with one hand. Lefties with the right, righties with the left. And of course, the whole thing with millimeter precision. In the end, such methods are said to result in the car that has become Kaiseki. The masters among car manufacturers are allowed to adorn themselves with the designation Takumi. The title has been borne by artisans for centuries who, for example, manufacture katana swords, glass jugs, wood veneers or dresses.
And the Japanese automakers want to bring their championship into the cars. For example, the art of folding origami in the door panels of the LS. Master Yuko Shimizu from Kyoto says: "So far I have only used this for the leather of clothes or furniture - now for the first time in a car." Takumi Toshiyasu Nakamura engraves special glass inlays in the shape of the Lexus-L. They then also decorate the door lining - for the “Japanese moments” in the life of a driver.