AI Auto Podcast Oct 16, 2025

S6E68 — Toshi Hayama: From The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift to the 2026 Toyota RAV4

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17:45

Part

turbochargers

A turbocharger is a part that helps an engine get more air, which makes it more powerful. It’s like giving the engine a boost.

Company

tuning company

A tuning company makes cars faster or look better by changing parts. They can add things like better engines or special exhausts.

Term

street racing

Street racing is when people race their cars on regular streets instead of on a track. It’s usually illegal and can be very risky.

Concept

Fast and the Furious

The Fast and the Furious is a movie series about racing cars and exciting adventures. It made street racing and fast cars very popular.

Term

Takumi

Takumi means a master craftsman in Japan. In car repair or manufacturing, it describes someone who has spent many years perfecting their skills.

Car

The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car that started being sold in the 1960s. It's known for being fast and stylish, and many people love it for the fun driving experience it offers. The Mustang is often talked about because it's a classic car that has a lot of history and fans.

Brand

Toyota

Toyota is a well-known car company from Japan that makes many popular cars, like the Camry and Corolla.

Brand

Lexus

Lexus is a luxury car brand that is part of Toyota, making high-end cars that are known for being very comfortable and reliable.

Brand

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a famous car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars, known for their quality and technology.

LIVE

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Lauren Fix and Javier Mota.

How long have you been with Toyota?

Lexus headquarters, Lexus USA and GR.

I have multiple contracts with multiple things.

I work with the headquarters, the main...

And whatever they need someone to translate, you're there.

Mostly with car stuff.

Because they also have translators for legal...

OIC.

UN.

It must be very difficult.

Because once you get into your topic,

legal is different than engineering.

I started out as a car guy.

So I did racing stuff and then I became an announcer.

Here in the US?

Movies.

And then that helped me translate for the engineers.

And then they're like, hey, can you do this?

Can you do this?

So you get busier and busier.

So tell me about your personal story.

Your family came to the US from Japan or how was that?

I grew up in California.

And then I went to Japanese school on Saturdays.

And so I was like the bad Japanese kid.

Well, not bad.

I mean, I couldn't speak it as well.

So I would learn one week's worth of Japanese in one day.

So after a while, as you get older, you start falling behind.

And Japanese people usually come to California,

but they move back to Japan.

So we don't have a big immigrant.

So your parents came when?

They came to college.

So they met in college, moved back to Japan.

And then they ran the US office of my grandfather's company.

So our family only came to the US.

And what was the business?

We were in jeans.

So my grandfather brought Levi's and jeans to Japan.

Oh, wow.

Back in the day.

Actually, I was looking at, I think it was an Instagram story.

And there's a theory at least that the blue jeans were originated

in Genoa in Italy because it was a blue fabric that they invented

for the ships or the sales.

Yeah.

And then they discovered they can use it for the people on the ships.

But anyway.

The Indigo.

Yeah, exactly.

That's pretty cool, right?

But anyway, so you grew up.

Your parents already came back to the US and you grew up.

And then you didn't know too much Japanese.

Yeah, I could speak it.

But like language, like you know, your mouth is a muscle.

So if you don't speak it, you can understand, but you can't repeat it.

So my Japanese had a little accent and whatever, but once I started doing car business

and I made Japanese exchange student friends.

Oh, okay.

And so you start using it and I caught up really quick.

I see.

And then you started racing, you said?

Yeah.

So I opened up the US office of a tuning company like parts, turbochargers exhaust,

because we used to go street racing a lot.

Legally or illegally?

Well, that turned into the Fast and the Furious.

Oh, really?

So number one, I sponsored many parts.

I started a company called Apex.

So we sponsored a lot of parts.

Oh, I remember that.

And then I was the technical consultant for number three and four, Tokyo Drift and Fast and Furious 4.

So I was the one.

You were a real car person.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I'm not a translator, so I don't like being branded as an interpreter,

but I'm a car guy that happens to speak Japanese.

So when Toyota Japan and Jiro offered me a job, I said, no, I'll go independent,

because if I joined the company, I get transferred and whatever,

but I want to stay with the engineers.

So they were very cool.

And they said, yeah, okay, we'll contract you as an independent.

They appreciated your skills and your abilities.

So that's why I work as a special team and we work with Europe, America, Japan.

And I train now.

And I guess they knew about you because you were already in the movies

and all these kind of things.

What did they find you?

My Japanese friend was a former Indie racing car driver called his name is Roger Yasuko.

So I started as a backup translator for him at the first like an RC at the Lexus RC event,

like way back in New York.

And then I for the first year, I just stood there and I just did what I needed to do.

They didn't talk.

Nobody gave me anything special for like the first three years.

Yeah.

And then slowly grow up.

And then once I started getting the rhythm, then COVID hit.

Then they're like, hey, you know, there's no more Japanese people.

You know, we can't, you know, contract with you anymore because I cut out all my clients.

Oh, I see.

Then I moved to Japan and then they called Japan for me.

Hey, our guys over there.

So when I went to headquarters and I turned to headquarters like, hey, I remember you.

Can you do this, this, this?

And so I live in Japan right now.

And so we're doing for five years and.

Wow, that's amazing.

Escalated.

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You know, AT&T thinks that listening to the voice of a loved one can change everything.

And you, who loves podcasts, you know it's like that.

Listening to the voice of someone we love is unique.

That's why we keep our messages.

They mean a lot, right?

For me, if I need to cheer up in the parties, I know who to call.

Marisol.

Listening to her voice feels like being at home.

And if I need to tell someone, I call Eric.

He's my best friend.

Listening to him is like a relief I didn't know I needed.

AT&T knows that these parties are perfect to share your voice.

If you have time without calling someone, it's the right time.

Because more than a conversation, it's your chance to say something they will always remember.

In these parties, share love with a call.

Happy parties, I wish you.

AT&T, connect, change everything.

You already kind of explained a little bit how you develop the skill to do what you do.

I mean, we just went through the walk around here this morning with the rough work.

There's a lot of information.

And I guess this is your fourth time you do it this week.

You remember, but it's still, there might be a different question and everything.

So do you remember like the first time when you got into the job like,

oh my God, I'm going to mess it up or like you were super confident about it?

I used to do MC announcing for the drifting series in front of 20,000 to 30,000 people.

So I'm already used to being, you know, oh, that guy sucks or that guy's good or whatever.

But this is a different kind of pressure because they're very powerful people, very smart.

And I don't want to screw that.

And the information has to be very specific because if some of the journalists said,

okay, no, he said this or he said that, that's on you, I guess.

So I study, obviously, you know, whether it's electric or hydrogen or high speed combustion engines.

I study that, but you never know.

So I'll talk with them a little bit beforehand.

But usually, but, but it's like, yeah, it's random.

You don't know what they're going to say.

And also, I think you, people lose interest in listening.

Sometimes if it's boring, so you have to add that entertainment thing without being weird.

So sometimes like, even when I'm translating the president of Toyota, you know,

uh, Sato-san or president of Lexus Watson, I'm a son, I'll shorten it into really casual Japanese.

So we might be in a formal setting, but there's no time.

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.

Uh, you know, this and that.

So sometimes you'll shorten it.

Other times in Japanese, there's no direct translation.

So I'll say the equivalent that we would understand in English.

Oh, I see.

And they know just enough to know that I'm not changing it, but it's the nuance.

The essence is the same, but you are, you, you adapted to the audience.

Let's see.

So I think the hardest part is having the courage to break that rule.

So if I went to a normal United Nations thing, I would be the worst interpreter because I go out of bounds.

I, I overstep that zone that usual people are not allowed to.

So they'll hold the clipboard and they're not, you know, do that, but I'll change.

I'll change the atmosphere and try to move around with it and make them feel comfortable.

Cause my job is to get that information that's trapped inside cause they're engineers.

They don't, they don't, so I try to squeeze it out of them.

You forgot about the window.

And so, and I guess what helps you is one, your personality.

I mean, you're very outgoing, very nice to be around.

You're always happy.

I mean, sometimes you might get mad.

No, no, no, no.

No job, but like everybody at some point, but your personality, your knowledge of cars and now 10 years.

Yeah.

What's the term for the master technicians in the Japanese?

Like Takumi.

Takumi.

Yeah.

And they say it takes 10 years.

Yeah.

Takumi.

The real Takumi would be like, they kill me.

Really?

No.

No, but don't they say that Takumi, they have to take 10 years to do something to be a master

of it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was very unintended, but yeah, it's very flattering.

Thank you.

No, but I mean, I always, when I see you and I listen to you and you work, I mean, I don't

speak any Japanese.

I see all over the world though, right?

I see the location.

I don't, I don't, I don't speak Japanese, obviously, but I speak English a little bit of French.

I understand Italian, Portuguese, but understand, as you were saying, I just listen to it and

I understand a little bit, but I'm not good at it.

I mean, would you, I mean, it's, it's like almost a natural thing.

Like you, somebody speaks and then you pick it up.

No, no, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's what I say.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

No.

Yeah, I'm like a specialty tool.

I'm like that one socket wrench when you're trying to reach something that if you have

it, it's easy.

So I try to make their job, their, I try to make every job easier.

I think that's when you're in cars, like unless you're a journalist or a race engineer or a

driver or have a lot of money, it's hard to find your place in the car industry.

So I used to do car parts.

I was the director, but got rid of that.

I wasn't good enough for a racing driver or whatever.

So I sort of found my niche of how I can contribute to make a car.

So I still want to be part of that process.

Yeah.

That's what keeps me going.

So what, what I mean, it's, I think it's really bad to when you talk about, I'm talking about

myself.

No, I think that's bad when you do that a lot, but one time I'm going to share a little

story.

I was interviewing while like now, the chief engineer for the Ford Mustang in LA.

And back then I had a show in Sears XM radio and I told him, we're going to go out, we're

going to drive for 10 minutes and we're going to talk about the car.

He gave me a short, a 10 minute version of the car description.

So we went out and when we came back, I hit stop and it was 9.58.

Oh, he looked at me like he was a surprise.

He said, how do you do that?

And I said, what?

How do you keep time?

How do you keep the conversation going?

You're attacking me.

You're attacking me on your own.

And I guess I told him like, well, how do you engineer a Ford Mustang?

That's why you do what you work.

And that's why we become everybody when you're doing something that you love and you like,

you become good at it.

I think meeting you guys because I was an aftermarket.

I didn't know this world existed.

It's fascinating for me.

And now I have such more of appreciation for like these kind of videos and all that to

see how much work you guys put in.

So I'm just happy for the ride.

Yeah, be part of it.

It's just a chapter.

So one question and I don't know you maybe having gotten it lately more often now.

Are you afraid that AI is going to take your job?

You know, it's funny.

A lot of people ask me that.

So no, not at all.

So one, it'll force me to go higher upstream and be better.

So AI, like I write, I used to translate and write the speeches for the executives too.

So it'd be in Japanese and I do the teleprompter stuff and I do the thing.

Sometimes we put it into AI, but it just it doesn't make sense.

Also, sometimes I use it when I can't think of a certain word when I'm translating like press releases or manuals.

So I'll be like a certain word in Japanese, give me the all 20 and sometimes it's like doesn't match.

So we still have to set it up.

Right. And as you know, with language in Japanese, there's a word because we use kanji.

You can get very detailed.

So like happiness, we could use kanji.

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.

And then so the sentences are very specific.

But when I translate in English, the press guys would be like, Toshi, you just said happy.

Don't worry.

It's happy.

They'll get it.

But what we do is we set it up with the word, the sentence before and after.

So the setup is what's important in English.

Japanese people are because they don't understand the setup.

They're worried.

They cannot put the green light with just happy, that general word.

Oh, I see.

But for you and me, it'll evoke certain emotions of happy by the river, by the whatever.

So we're confident.

So I think AI also cannot do that yet.

They don't know exactly what I'm targeting.

So I'm not worried yet.

It'll get there eventually.

Yeah, but not in your time.

Yeah, it's not my problem.

So if you could give like a one minute Japanese lesson, what's the most difficult thing to learn about Japan?

Japanese, I mean, obviously the characters, I guess.

But what would you say if someone is interested in learning Japanese?

On the language?

What would you say is like the normal one thing you should do?

The number one thing you should do is just try to use it because feelings will convey more than grammar and whatever.

Japanese people, they're taught, do it perfect.

So we never are, everybody's English sucks because we're always trying to give you the perfect sentence and it makes no sense.

Oh, I see.

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?

And it can be all mixed up, but they'll understand.

And as you talk to people, you'll get better.

You know, it's like any language.

If you have no reason to learn it, why learn it?

You're never going to learn it.

I know, exactly.

Because you don't need to.

I was in Japan one time, probably with Toyota or Lexus.

We were riding the train and we see these little kids.

It's a 10 year old, maybe.

Which in Japan is very common, right?

They go by themselves.

Yes, yes.

Very safe.

Very safe and everything.

And we were a group of US journalists on the train and we were speaking in English.

One of the kids came and said, it was super nice.

I mean, very almost touching.

Say, can I talk to you?

I want to practice my English.

And that's how you do it.

Yeah.

Kids don't think it right.

Yeah, it was a fantastic experience.

And so, I mean, you already said it, but what's the best part of your job?

What's the moment that you say like, wow, I love what I do?

I think that, and just because I happen to be Japanese, but the engineers, Toyota headquarters,

Lexus, whatever, there's so much information and so many great backstories to these cars

and development.

So I enjoy the night before the event, you know, having a beer with them.

It's like, so what was the deal?

What was the real story?

Oh, okay.

Going to these testing days.

Sort of.

But I can only keep it inside.

And because I'm not an employee, an official one, I'm not a threat to them.

So I'm not trying to take their job.

I'm not going for promotion.

I'm just a pure, I want to make your job then.

So they'll talk to me.

And so we'll talk about development stories and whatever.

And I'm like, maybe we can, can I tell people about it?

That's my favorite, getting these backstories of how that meter, that button, you know,

when we were making that button.

So you're doing our job too.

Yeah.

But I'm not taking your job either.

I'm helping his job.

Yeah.

I'm just a harmless tool.

No, but always, I mean, you were kind of shy when I told you, I want to talk to you about

you.

Yeah, because it's not getting trouble.

I'm like, Hey, man, we're here for the car.

But you're part of the event.

I mean, you're part of the story of telling the story.

And like literally now translating what they want to tell us.

Yeah.

Because otherwise it will be lost.

And sometimes engineers, not only Japanese or German engineers are horrible.

I mean, they have no sense of humor.

Like there's, I don't know if you ever driven a Mercedes-Benz.

And when you, you do the voice command and you tell Hey Mercedes, tell me a joke.

I said, I'm sorry, I was programmed by a German engineer.

I can't help you.

But I will try that.

But it's difficult for engineers because their mindset is very different from someone is

in communication like you are, and you help.

So you're part of the story.

To their credit, I think to the group, to the group, they do spend the effort on people

like me to try to get the message.

And that's in the Japanese manufacturers, especially, I don't think there's too many

that are doing that.

No, no, no.

That's why you.

Yeah, no, I got interested in your story.

That's why.

No, it's good win-win, right?

Yeah.

Well, thank you very much.

Very, very interesting.

Thank you.

And I mean, you're part of the story.

You make these events more interesting, more of the information more accessible to us.

So let's go for a little drive now.

Yes.

We don't talk.

We cannot talk too much about it now, but we'll take you about that later.

That's a wrap for this episode of the Total Car Score podcast.

Want more expert takes on the hottest cars, industry trends and insider insights?

Join Javier Mota, Lauren Fix and Carl Brower every week for the ultimate auto talk.

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See you next time.

Yeah.

0:00

17:45

S6E68 — Toshi Hayama: From The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift to the 2026 Toyota RAV4

turbochargers

tuning company

street racing

Fast and the Furious

Takumi

Ford Mustang

Toyota

Lexus

Mercedes-Benz

About this episode

Original notes