Kobe Steel, which has apologised for the tampering, declined comment for this article. In 2006, Kobe Steel admitted falsifying soot-emissions data from the blast furnaces at Kobe Works and Kakogawa Works. And last year Kobe Steel admitted a subsidiary falsified data on stainless-steel products. "If Kobe Steel suffers a blow, this is the area that will be most affected," said Tsuyoshi Matsuda of Teikoku Databank's Kobe office. Abe, who worked at both the Kobe and Kakogawa works, has called his years at Kobe Steel "the starting point of my adult life."

Source: The Star November 05, 2017 00:56 UTC