was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese businessman and former president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 of Mitsubishi Motors

Mitsubishi Motors

is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...

. Prior to his promotion in June 1995 he spent 37 years at the company's Mizushima manufacturing facility in Kurashiki, Okayama

Kurashiki, Okayama

is a historic city located to the west of Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea.As of April 2010, the city has a population of 473,392. The total area is .-History:...

, before becoming president of the Pajero Manufacturing Co. subsidiary in Sakahogi, Gifu

Sakahogi, Gifu

is a town located in Kamo District, Gifu, Japan.As of July 2011, the town has an estimated population of 8,443. The total area is 12.89 km². The town was formed in 1968.-History:Sakahogi was formed on October 1, 1968 when the village of gained town status...

. He was hired to replace the outgoing Nobuhisa Tsukahara, who was retiring due to health problems. Soon after taking the post, he outlined a long term strategy for expansion by introducing a wider range of vehicles, and to undercut competitors by focusing on low cost manufacturing.

He and chairman Hirokazu Nakamura were forced to resign in December 1997, after four former company executives were jailed for making corporate payoffs to sōkaiya

Sokaiya

, are a form of specialized racketeer unique to Japan, and often associated with the yakuza that extort money from or blackmail companies by threatening to publicly humiliate companies and their management, usually in their .-History:Sōkaiya originate from the late 19th century...

 racketeers. Mitsubishi Motors admitted to paying ¥

Japanese yen

The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...

23.5 million to the wife of a racketeer, ostensibly for the rental of a beach house, in a controversy which also engulfed Toshiba

Toshiba

is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...

 and Hitachi

Hitachi, Ltd.

is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...

.

He was among those former executives named in 2005 in a ¥1.3 billion lawsuit filed by Mitsubishi Motors in connection with the Mitsubishi Motors recall cover up scandal, but died of bile duct

Bile duct

A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile.Bile, required for the digestion of food, is excreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct, which joins with the cystic duct to form the common bile duct, which opens into the intestine.The...

 cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

in 2006 before the case was resolved.