A fair amount of crocodile tears are being shed on this side of the Pacific over the travails of Japanese automakers.When Toyota announced that it expected to lose money on its auto operations for the first time since 1950, it became front-page news -- even in papers outside Detroit. A good chunk of the loss is attributable to Toyota's shuttered truck plan in San Antonio, Texas, which has been the source of unconcealed glee in Detroit, so pleased are domestic automakers to see someone making mistakes besides themselves.
Then there was Honda's threat to move more production offshore if the Japanese government couldn't figure out a way to keep the yen above 100 to the dollar. A cheap yen has helped finance much of Japan's success selling cars in the U.S. and Honda's comment was tacit admission of what has long been suspected here: that the Japanese government manipulates swings in its currency to benefit its export-dependent manufacturers.
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