Japanese cars in general, and Toyota in particular, have a fully-deserved reputation for high reliability, low maintenance, and outstandingly fine engineering. Why so?

Part of the answer lies in the Japanese psyche, and part in the culture of Japanese companies and corporations. Both strive towards excellence, and neither are content to settle for second best, when doing so could be seen as losing face. In either event, it is we, the car buying public, who stand to benefit.

Toyota the Motor Company began life as an offshoot of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which moved into producing motor vehicles in 1933, under the guidance of Kiichiro Toyoda, son of the company's founder, Sakichi Toyoda.

The new automotive division of the Toyoda family firm underwent solid growth during World War Two, as a supplier of trucks to the Imperial Japanese Army. After the war, Japan having found herself on the side that came a somewhat distant second, the company struggled against the same testing conditions and economic downturn that was affecting the entire country. Fortunately for Toyota, another war came along to the rescue; this time it was Korea, and the United States, star player from WWII's winning team, placed an order for 5,000 trucks, the manufacturing of which enabled Toyota to rebuild and expand.

Related: American Government Selling Surplus Military Trucks To Whoever Wants To Buy Them

An Ordered Society

Japan Today

Key to an appreciation of the Japanese corporate culture is an understanding of the place and nature of large industrial concerns within the modern Japanese nation, and its historical underpinnings. Japanese society is polite, but very structured and regimented.

Chartered governance has been an important aspect of this approach since the 1600s, when various family-owned holding companies were established to provide for the material needs of people and administrations across Japan's diverse prefectures. These companies grew to have great size, wealth, and authority, becoming known as zaibatsus. They were closely linked to the Japanese military, as well as to local, and eventually national, Government.

Toyota was never a zaibatsu in either the original or evolved sense (as Nissan became), but it is one of the keiretsus that came to replace them in the aftermath of the Second World War (kinda like Gandalf being a Maia, but not ever quite attaining the status of Valar. Or Vader never making the cut to actual Sith.)

Fealty to the Firm

Into Japan Specialist Tours

Loyalty to the company was, and remains, very important to Japanese employees. Everybody, from the workers on the shop floor through to the highest levels of management, typically strives to reach and maintain the best performance possible; meeting or beating deadlines, exceeding quality standards, going the extra mile in order that the company might profit and prosper, and doing so whilst showing respect.

Pride and discipline are powerful motivating factors for Japanese auto workers, and the work ethic of Toyota engineers, executives, and production line crews epitomizes that mindset. Salarymen typically work 16 and 18 hour days, after which it is often expected that they will accompany the Boss out on the town. This involves going for a meal, and then to a nightclub (or four), wherein each underling is required to drink a bottle of whisky, smoke 40 cigarettes, and eat a poisonous fish. They will then stagger home to the wife at four a.m., have 12 minutes sleep, and be back at their desk before dawn.

That might sound like something out of Monty Python, but it's actually not very far from the truth, and goes some way to explaining the massive importance that the Japanese place on getting things right.

Japanese engineering reflects the commitment described above, and it is this commitment that is central to the standards and quality for which Toyota - and other Japanese marques - are renowned. If you think it sounds like fun, try doing it six nights a week for twenty years, and you'll gain an insight into another Japanese tradition - karoshi, which translates as death by overwork. These guys literally kill themselves so the likes of you and I can enjoy hassle-free motoring. Respect.

Related: GM Promised to Find New Jobs For Workers From Closed Plants, But Still Hasn't Delivered on 500 Employees

Engineering Expertise

New York Times

Globally, Toyota also runs its own training and staff development program, including engineering apprenticeships. Through such schemes they strive to maintain and improve the quality of both their systems and the final product; one of the most important elements is to produce engineers and technicians who hold perfection as a standard to be achieved, rather than a mere aspirational goal.

In the growth of the car industry, and others, Japanese manufacturers often began by copying American and British engines and transmissions, perfecting them before applying what they had learned to their own original designs. Precision and accuracy has always been central to this approach; where a given component in, say, a British automobile might have an operating tolerance of a foot either way, with an adjustment knob on the dashboard, the Japanese would simply get it right, down to the last tenth of a millimeter, and make sure it stayed that way. Unlike a lot of their competition across the world, Toyota's oil leaks don't come with a part number.

Related: Tesla Model 3 Teardown Reveals Shocking Build Quality

The Future Is Now

Inceptive Mind

Building looms was where Toyota began, and throughout the time the family company has been making cars, the original business never went away; today, Toyota still makes textile manufacturing machinery and sewing machines, as well as robots, boats, and a heap of other cool stuff. There's a thing about car makers and sewing machines, clearly.

The point here is that Toyota approaches sewing machines the same way it does everything else; meticulously, and with absolute quality as the primary driving factor.

And that's the real reason why they make the most reliable cars.

Next: The Real Reason Why Honda Makes the Most Reliable Cars