Toyota trolls for techies along Tokyo's Nambu Line amid Silicon Valley's tense rivalry

When it comes to recruiting tech talent, Toyota Motor Corp. is anything but subtle. The Japanese automaker recently launched a marketing campaign targeting information technology specialists and software engineers along Tokyo's suburban Nambu railway line, where the research centers of Japan's signature tech giants are clustered. "We want engineers from Nambu Line area more than from Silicon Valley," declares one poster at Mukaigawara Station, where one of the exits is designated exclusively for NEC Corp. employees. Toyota's talent raid is unusual in a country where lifetime employment is still the norm at many big companies. "It's very unique for a Japanese company as well-known as Toyota to blatantly target specific talent markets or companies with direct advertising in regional locations like this," said Casey Abel, managing director at recruiter HCCR K.K. based in Tokyo.