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01:01
Listen to the voice of someone we love is unique.
01:04
That's why we keep our messages.
01:06
It means a lot, right?
01:08
For me, if I need to cheer up in the parties,
01:11
I know who to call.
01:13
Listening to her voice feels like being at home.
01:15
And if I need to tell someone something, I call Eric.
01:18
He's my best friend.
01:19
Listening to him is like a relief I didn't know I needed.
01:23
AT&T knows that these parties are perfect to share your voice.
01:27
If you have time without calling someone, it's time.
01:30
Because more than a conversation,
01:32
it's your chance to say something you'll always remember.
01:36
In these parties, share love with a call.
01:39
Happy parties, I wish you and AT&T.
01:42
Connecting changes everything.
01:57
Lauren Fix and Javier Mota.
02:29
How long have you been with Toyota?
02:58
Lexus headquarters, Lexus USA and GR.
03:01
I have multiple contracts with multiple things.
03:04
I work with the headquarters, the main...
03:07
And whatever they need someone to translate, you're there.
03:10
Mostly with car stuff.
03:12
Because they also have translators for legal...
03:16
It must be very difficult.
03:18
Because once you get into your topic,
03:21
legal is different than engineering.
03:24
I started out as a car guy.
03:26
So I did racing stuff and then I became an announcer.
03:32
And then that helped me translate for the engineers.
03:36
And then they're like, hey, can you do this?
03:39
So you get busier and busier.
03:41
So tell me about your personal story.
03:44
Your family came to the US from Japan or how was that?
03:47
I grew up in California.
03:49
And then I went to Japanese school on Saturdays.
03:52
And so I was like the bad Japanese kid.
03:56
I mean, I couldn't speak it as well.
03:57
So I would learn one week's worth of Japanese in one day.
04:01
So after a while, as you get older, you start falling behind.
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And Japanese people usually come to California,
04:06
but they move back to Japan.
04:08
So we don't have a big immigrant.
04:10
So your parents came when?
04:11
They came to college.
04:13
So they met in college, moved back to Japan.
04:15
And then they ran the US office of my grandfather's company.
04:18
So our family only came to the US.
04:22
And what was the business?
04:25
So my grandfather brought Levi's and jeans to Japan.
04:31
Actually, I was looking at, I think it was an Instagram story.
04:36
And there's a theory at least that the blue jeans were originated
04:40
in Genoa in Italy because it was a blue fabric that they invented
04:44
for the ships or the sales.
04:47
And then they discovered they can use it for the people on the ships.
04:57
That's pretty cool, right?
04:58
But anyway, so you grew up.
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Your parents already came back to the US and you grew up.
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And then you didn't know too much Japanese.
05:06
Yeah, I could speak it.
05:07
But like language, like you know, your mouth is a muscle.
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So if you don't speak it, you can understand, but you can't repeat it.
05:15
So my Japanese had a little accent and whatever, but once I started doing car business
05:20
and I made Japanese exchange student friends.
05:24
And so you start using it and I caught up really quick.
05:28
And then you started racing, you said?
05:31
So I opened up the US office of a tuning company like parts, turbochargers exhaust,
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because we used to go street racing a lot.
05:40
Legally or illegally?
05:41
Well, that turned into the Fast and the Furious.
05:45
So number one, I sponsored many parts.
05:49
I started a company called Apex.
05:50
So we sponsored a lot of parts.
05:51
Oh, I remember that.
05:52
And then I was the technical consultant for number three and four, Tokyo Drift and Fast and Furious 4.
06:00
You were a real car person.
06:02
So I'm not a translator, so I don't like being branded as an interpreter,
06:08
but I'm a car guy that happens to speak Japanese.
06:11
So when Toyota Japan and Jiro offered me a job, I said, no, I'll go independent,
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because if I joined the company, I get transferred and whatever,
06:19
but I want to stay with the engineers.
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So they were very cool.
06:22
And they said, yeah, okay, we'll contract you as an independent.
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They appreciated your skills and your abilities.
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So that's why I work as a special team and we work with Europe, America, Japan.
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And I guess they knew about you because you were already in the movies
06:37
and all these kind of things.
06:38
What did they find you?
06:39
My Japanese friend was a former Indie racing car driver called his name is Roger Yasuko.
06:44
So I started as a backup translator for him at the first like an RC at the Lexus RC event,
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like way back in New York.
06:52
And then I for the first year, I just stood there and I just did what I needed to do.
06:58
Nobody gave me anything special for like the first three years.
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And then slowly grow up.
07:02
And then once I started getting the rhythm, then COVID hit.
07:05
Then they're like, hey, you know, there's no more Japanese people.
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You know, we can't, you know, contract with you anymore because I cut out all my clients.
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Then I moved to Japan and then they called Japan for me.
07:15
Hey, our guys over there.
07:17
So when I went to headquarters and I turned to headquarters like, hey, I remember you.
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Can you do this, this, this?
07:21
And so I live in Japan right now.
07:23
And so we're doing for five years and.
07:25
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07:58
You know, AT&T thinks that listening to the voice of a loved one can change everything.
08:03
And you, who loves podcasts, you know it's like that.
08:06
Listening to the voice of someone we love is unique.
08:09
That's why we keep our messages.
08:11
They mean a lot, right?
08:12
For me, if I need to cheer up in the parties, I know who to call.
08:17
Listening to her voice feels like being at home.
08:19
And if I need to tell someone, I call Eric.
08:22
He's my best friend.
08:24
Listening to him is like a relief I didn't know I needed.
08:26
AT&T knows that these parties are perfect to share your voice.
08:31
If you have time without calling someone, it's the right time.
08:35
Because more than a conversation, it's your chance to say something they will always remember.
08:40
In these parties, share love with a call.
08:44
Happy parties, I wish you.
08:45
AT&T, connect, change everything.
08:48
You already kind of explained a little bit how you develop the skill to do what you do.
08:55
I mean, we just went through the walk around here this morning with the rough work.
09:01
There's a lot of information.
09:02
And I guess this is your fourth time you do it this week.
09:05
You remember, but it's still, there might be a different question and everything.
09:12
So do you remember like the first time when you got into the job like,
09:16
oh my God, I'm going to mess it up or like you were super confident about it?
09:19
I used to do MC announcing for the drifting series in front of 20,000 to 30,000 people.
09:24
So I'm already used to being, you know, oh, that guy sucks or that guy's good or whatever.
09:28
But this is a different kind of pressure because they're very powerful people, very smart.
09:33
And I don't want to screw that.
09:34
And the information has to be very specific because if some of the journalists said,
09:38
okay, no, he said this or he said that, that's on you, I guess.
09:42
So I study, obviously, you know, whether it's electric or hydrogen or high speed combustion engines.
09:48
I study that, but you never know.
09:50
So I'll talk with them a little bit beforehand.
09:53
But usually, but, but it's like, yeah, it's random.
09:56
You don't know what they're going to say.
09:57
And also, I think you, people lose interest in listening.
10:01
Sometimes if it's boring, so you have to add that entertainment thing without being weird.
10:05
So sometimes like, even when I'm translating the president of Toyota, you know,
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uh, Sato-san or president of Lexus Watson, I'm a son, I'll shorten it into really casual Japanese.
10:14
So we might be in a formal setting, but there's no time.
10:16
So I'd be like, it's not like this, but he'd be like, he's saying, you know, he thinks that's cool.
10:20
Uh, you know, this and that.
10:22
So sometimes you'll shorten it.
10:23
Other times in Japanese, there's no direct translation.
10:26
So I'll say the equivalent that we would understand in English.
10:30
And they know just enough to know that I'm not changing it, but it's the nuance.
10:34
The essence is the same, but you are, you, you adapted to the audience.
10:39
So I think the hardest part is having the courage to break that rule.
10:42
So if I went to a normal United Nations thing, I would be the worst interpreter because I go out of bounds.
10:49
I, I overstep that zone that usual people are not allowed to.
10:54
So they'll hold the clipboard and they're not, you know, do that, but I'll change.
10:57
I'll change the atmosphere and try to move around with it and make them feel comfortable.
11:02
Cause my job is to get that information that's trapped inside cause they're engineers.
11:07
They don't, they don't, so I try to squeeze it out of them.
11:10
You forgot about the window.
11:11
And so, and I guess what helps you is one, your personality.
11:15
I mean, you're very outgoing, very nice to be around.
11:18
You're always happy.
11:20
I mean, sometimes you might get mad.
11:23
No job, but like everybody at some point, but your personality, your knowledge of cars and now 10 years.
11:33
What's the term for the master technicians in the Japanese?
11:39
And they say it takes 10 years.
11:43
The real Takumi would be like, they kill me.
11:48
No, but don't they say that Takumi, they have to take 10 years to do something to be a master
11:55
It was very unintended, but yeah, it's very flattering.
11:58
No, but I mean, I always, when I see you and I listen to you and you work, I mean, I don't
12:05
speak any Japanese.
12:06
I see all over the world though, right?
12:06
I see the location.
12:08
I don't, I don't, I don't speak Japanese, obviously, but I speak English a little bit of French.
12:14
I understand Italian, Portuguese, but understand, as you were saying, I just listen to it and
12:19
I understand a little bit, but I'm not good at it.
12:23
I mean, would you, I mean, it's, it's like almost a natural thing.
12:28
Like you, somebody speaks and then you pick it up.
12:30
No, no, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's what I say.
12:34
Yeah, I'm like a specialty tool.
12:36
I'm like that one socket wrench when you're trying to reach something that if you have
12:41
So I try to make their job, their, I try to make every job easier.
12:45
I think that's when you're in cars, like unless you're a journalist or a race engineer or a
12:51
driver or have a lot of money, it's hard to find your place in the car industry.
12:55
So I used to do car parts.
12:57
I was the director, but got rid of that.
12:59
I wasn't good enough for a racing driver or whatever.
13:01
So I sort of found my niche of how I can contribute to make a car.
13:05
So I still want to be part of that process.
13:09
That's what keeps me going.
13:09
So what, what I mean, it's, I think it's really bad to when you talk about, I'm talking about
13:15
No, I think that's bad when you do that a lot, but one time I'm going to share a little
13:21
I was interviewing while like now, the chief engineer for the Ford Mustang in LA.
13:28
And back then I had a show in Sears XM radio and I told him, we're going to go out, we're
13:33
going to drive for 10 minutes and we're going to talk about the car.
13:37
He gave me a short, a 10 minute version of the car description.
13:42
So we went out and when we came back, I hit stop and it was 9.58.
13:47
Oh, he looked at me like he was a surprise.
13:50
He said, how do you do that?
13:53
How do you keep time?
13:55
How do you keep the conversation going?
13:57
You're attacking me.
13:58
You're attacking me on your own.
13:59
And I guess I told him like, well, how do you engineer a Ford Mustang?
14:04
That's why you do what you work.
14:06
And that's why we become everybody when you're doing something that you love and you like,
14:11
you become good at it.
14:13
I think meeting you guys because I was an aftermarket.
14:16
I didn't know this world existed.
14:18
It's fascinating for me.
14:20
And now I have such more of appreciation for like these kind of videos and all that to
14:23
see how much work you guys put in.
14:25
So I'm just happy for the ride.
14:27
Yeah, be part of it.
14:29
It's just a chapter.
14:30
So one question and I don't know you maybe having gotten it lately more often now.
14:37
Are you afraid that AI is going to take your job?
14:40
You know, it's funny.
14:41
A lot of people ask me that.
14:45
So one, it'll force me to go higher upstream and be better.
14:49
So AI, like I write, I used to translate and write the speeches for the executives too.
14:54
So it'd be in Japanese and I do the teleprompter stuff and I do the thing.
14:58
Sometimes we put it into AI, but it just it doesn't make sense.
15:02
Also, sometimes I use it when I can't think of a certain word when I'm translating like press releases or manuals.
15:08
So I'll be like a certain word in Japanese, give me the all 20 and sometimes it's like doesn't match.
15:13
So we still have to set it up.
15:14
Right. And as you know, with language in Japanese, there's a word because we use kanji.
15:19
You can get very detailed.
15:21
So like happiness, we could use kanji.
15:23
I'd be like the kind of happiness when you're by the river on a sunny day after you've eaten something and we can explain that.
15:29
And then so the sentences are very specific.
15:31
But when I translate in English, the press guys would be like, Toshi, you just said happy.
15:38
But what we do is we set it up with the word, the sentence before and after.
15:42
So the setup is what's important in English.
15:46
Japanese people are because they don't understand the setup.
15:49
They cannot put the green light with just happy, that general word.
15:53
But for you and me, it'll evoke certain emotions of happy by the river, by the whatever.
15:57
So we're confident.
15:58
So I think AI also cannot do that yet.
16:00
They don't know exactly what I'm targeting.
16:03
So I'm not worried yet.
16:05
It'll get there eventually.
16:05
Yeah, but not in your time.
16:08
Yeah, it's not my problem.
16:10
So if you could give like a one minute Japanese lesson, what's the most difficult thing to learn about Japan?
16:18
Japanese, I mean, obviously the characters, I guess.
16:22
But what would you say if someone is interested in learning Japanese?
16:26
What would you say is like the normal one thing you should do?
16:30
The number one thing you should do is just try to use it because feelings will convey more than grammar and whatever.
16:38
Japanese people, they're taught, do it perfect.
16:41
So we never are, everybody's English sucks because we're always trying to give you the perfect sentence and it makes no sense.
16:47
But the best Japanese, the best people that can do the language is just all you got to do is hello, sorry, where is it?
16:54
And it can be all mixed up, but they'll understand.
16:56
And as you talk to people, you'll get better.
16:59
You know, it's like any language.
17:00
If you have no reason to learn it, why learn it?
17:02
You're never going to learn it.
17:04
Because you don't need to.
17:05
I was in Japan one time, probably with Toyota or Lexus.
17:10
We were riding the train and we see these little kids.
17:14
It's a 10 year old, maybe.
17:16
Which in Japan is very common, right?
17:18
They go by themselves.
17:20
Very safe and everything.
17:21
And we were a group of US journalists on the train and we were speaking in English.
17:28
One of the kids came and said, it was super nice.
17:30
I mean, very almost touching.
17:32
Say, can I talk to you?
17:33
I want to practice my English.
17:35
And that's how you do it.
17:36
Kids don't think it right.
17:38
Yeah, it was a fantastic experience.
17:40
And so, I mean, you already said it, but what's the best part of your job?
17:44
What's the moment that you say like, wow, I love what I do?
17:47
I think that, and just because I happen to be Japanese, but the engineers, Toyota headquarters,
17:53
Lexus, whatever, there's so much information and so many great backstories to these cars
18:00
So I enjoy the night before the event, you know, having a beer with them.
18:03
It's like, so what was the deal?
18:04
What was the real story?
18:06
Going to these testing days.
18:09
But I can only keep it inside.
18:10
And because I'm not an employee, an official one, I'm not a threat to them.
18:18
So I'm not trying to take their job.
18:19
I'm not going for promotion.
18:20
I'm just a pure, I want to make your job then.
18:22
So they'll talk to me.
18:24
And so we'll talk about development stories and whatever.
18:26
And I'm like, maybe we can, can I tell people about it?
18:28
That's my favorite, getting these backstories of how that meter, that button, you know,
18:33
when we were making that button.
18:34
So you're doing our job too.
18:35
But I'm not taking your job either.
18:36
I'm helping his job.
18:38
I'm just a harmless tool.
18:40
No, but always, I mean, you were kind of shy when I told you, I want to talk to you about
18:46
Yeah, because it's not getting trouble.
18:48
I'm like, Hey, man, we're here for the car.
18:50
But you're part of the event.
18:52
I mean, you're part of the story of telling the story.
18:55
And like literally now translating what they want to tell us.
19:00
Because otherwise it will be lost.
19:02
And sometimes engineers, not only Japanese or German engineers are horrible.
19:08
I mean, they have no sense of humor.
19:10
Like there's, I don't know if you ever driven a Mercedes-Benz.
19:13
And when you, you do the voice command and you tell Hey Mercedes, tell me a joke.
19:19
I said, I'm sorry, I was programmed by a German engineer.
19:24
But I will try that.
19:25
But it's difficult for engineers because their mindset is very different from someone is
19:31
in communication like you are, and you help.
19:34
So you're part of the story.
19:35
To their credit, I think to the group, to the group, they do spend the effort on people
19:40
like me to try to get the message.
19:43
And that's in the Japanese manufacturers, especially, I don't think there's too many
19:47
that are doing that.
19:49
Yeah, no, I got interested in your story.
19:57
No, it's good win-win, right?
19:59
Well, thank you very much.
20:00
Very, very interesting.
20:02
And I mean, you're part of the story.
20:04
You make these events more interesting, more of the information more accessible to us.
20:10
So let's go for a little drive now.
20:13
We cannot talk too much about it now, but we'll take you about that later.
20:21
That's a wrap for this episode of the Total Car Score podcast.
20:24
Want more expert takes on the hottest cars, industry trends and insider insights?
20:30
Join Javier Mota, Lauren Fix and Carl Brower every week for the ultimate auto talk.
20:36
Hit subscribe, like and share with your friends to stay informed and stay ahead.
