American blogger Logan Paul apologized Tuesday after getting slammed for a video he shared on YouTube that appeared to show a body hanging in a Japanese forest known as a suicide spot.
FILE - in this Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998, file photo a group of schoolchildren read signs posted in the dense woods of the Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mount Fuji, Japan. (AP Photo/Atsushi Tsukada, File)
Paul, who has millions of Twitter followers and YouTube subscribers, posted an apology on his Twitter site , saying, "Where do I begin. Let's start with this. I'm sorry."
Although the video has been taken down, segments were still online. Critics, who have also gone online, say what was offensive was Paul's giggling and joking about the body.
The video, posted Sunday, shows Paul going on a trek with friends in the Aokigahara forest, near Mount Fuji. He seems aware that the site is sometimes chosen for suicides, but is surprised to come across what appears to be a body hanging from a tree.
Logan Pau(Twitter Photo)
He said he had wanted to raise awareness about suicide and possibly save lives, and denied his goal was to drive clicks.
"I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity," he said in his Twitter post.
Paul posted a more sanguine video on YouTube on Monday, showing him romping through a Tokyo park, talking about his apparel brand, visiting gadget stores and running around city streets wearing a Pokemon outfit.
Logan Pau(Twitter Photo)
He briefly mentioned the encounter with a body at the start of the video, saying, "That was weird."
Japan has a relatively high rate of suicides, with more than 21,000 a year, according to government data. Its per capita suicide rate is among the highest in the world.
Many blame the high suicide rate on the value placed on conformity, excelling and hard work in the country.
Twitter Photo
Suicide also does not suffer the religious stigma here it does in other cultures. Ritual suicide, known as seppuku or hara-kiri, has long been portrayed in movies and theater as an honorable way to take responsibility.
The Mount Fuji forest has been known for suicides for decades because people can easily get lost there, and know they won't be found for a long time.
Although Japan has many suicide-prevention groups, the culture of shame has family members of convicted criminals, people who have racked up massive debt and youngsters bullied at school often turning to suicide.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota doubled its net profit in the fiscal year that ended in March, as strong vehicles sales and a favorable exchange rate lifted results for Japan’s top automaker.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s annual profit totaled 4.9 trillion yen ($31.9 billion), up from 2.45 trillion yen the year before, while its sales jumped 21% to 45 trillion yen ($290 billion), the company said Wednesday.
The results exceeded Toyota’s own projection for a 4.5 trillion yen ($29 billion) profit, as its global sales surged to 9.4 million vehicles from 8.8 million vehicles in the previous fiscal year.
Sales of hybrids performed well, although Toyota stressed it was working hard to offer various kinds of electric vehicles, including battery EVs, plug-ins and fuel cell models.
A weak yen worked as a big plus for Toyota, which makes the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models. The U.S. dollar cost an average of 145 Japanese yen during the last fiscal year, up from 135 yen in the year before, according to Toyota.
For the January-March quarter, Toyota earned 997.6 billion yen ($6.4 billion), up from 552 billion yen in the previous year, on 11 trillion yen ($71 billion) in sales, up from 9.7 trillion yen.
The company, based in central Japan’s Toyota city, now expects to sell 9.5 million vehicles during this fiscal, with sales projected to grow in the U.S. and the rest of Asia.
Toyota said it will make key investments in areas such as research on technology in coming months to sustain long-term growth.
It expects its net profit for the fiscal year through March 2025 to decline nearly 28% to 3.57 trillion yen ($23 billion), with spending also covering investments in workers at suppliers and dealers it called “human capital.”
“The latest results show that our efforts have borne fruit, but we need keep growing with the vision to become a mobility company,” Chief Executive Koji Sato told reporters.
Toyota needs to take up challenges in a way Sato described as more dramatic than Toyota’s trademark “kaizen,” which refers to day-by-day improvements that originate from the factory floor.
Developing ecological vehicles while sticking to Toyota’s pristine reputation for safety and quality requires the company to “solidify the ground it’s standing on.”
The auto industry is undergoing a sweeping transformation away from old-style gasoline engines, especially in markets like China, where EVs dominate and some analysts say automakers like Toyota may have fallen behind.
Like other manufacturers, Toyota was hit hard by a shortage in computer chips and other components during the pandemic. The latest results show it has rebounded from the production crunch.
Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
FILE - The Toyota Motor Corp. logo is seen, May 11, 2022, at a dealer in Tokyo. Toyota doubled its net profit in the fiscal year that ended in March, as strong vehicles sales and a favorable exchange rate lifted results for Japan’s top automaker. Toyota Motor Corp.'s annual profit totaled 4.9 trillion yen ($31.9 billion), up from 2.45 trillion yen the year before, while its sales jumped 21% to 45 trillion yen ($290 billion), the company said Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
