The Band Toto Asia Toto expanded its production facilities abroad, and doing business in France and Germany, Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan, Thailand and the People's Republic of China. North America was seen as a market that would grow for bidet and washlet toilet seats, in contrast to its "base" markets in Japan and China. https://www.openlearning.com/u/brixmcmillan-sjvq7t/blog/TheUltimateGlossaryOfTermsForSportTotoWebsite recorded Toto words to ensure that the future generation could understand them. However, many of the words were replaced with foreign ones, such as dui from Bengali for verandah. Origins The company was founded in 1917 and its early years were a mirror of Japan's economic development. In the beginning, Toto manufactured products to meet the growing demand for modern, new urban housing. To accomplish this, it employed the country's first tunnel kiln to produce ceramics in a continuous flow. It also pioneered the use of automation to control production, which allows for more efficiency and consistency. In the late 1980s, the company began to expand overseas in order to benefit from sales and new markets. It created the Cera Trading Company, importing and selling other products from other manufacturers to complement its own range of plumbing fittings and sanitary earthenware. This strategy increased sales and expanded the firm’s global market share. In the 1990s, Toto had shifted its focus to research and development of water-related household appliances. It also upgraded its distribution system to better serve its customers and improve profit. The company used the same just-in time approach in its supply chain management and sales program. This resulted in a greater level of satisfaction of customers. Toto continued to innovate toilet technology. Its most recent toilet, for example is equipped with an extremely powerful tornado flush that is more environmentally green than traditional toilets. The company makes use of recycled water in its manufacturing process and has a green purchasing policy. Toto also produces faucets, bathtubs and hand dryers with higher energy efficiency than conventional models. The first museum of the company opened in the year 2015, and it has exhibitions on Toto's most iconic products and their development as well as its group companies (all having to do with ceramics), history of plumbing and products such as bath units, and in a separate gallery, Toto products sold around the world. The museum also has a bathroom that includes the WASHLET toilet, as well as other toilet-related innovations. Before the formation of Toto members of the group did sessions with various musicians. Boz Scaggs' album Silk Degrees featured keyboardist David Paich, guitarists Mike Porcaro & Steve Lukather and drummers Jeff Porcaro & Steve Lukather. They also played on records by Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, and Sonny and Cher. Discography With a name as evocative as Asia you'd expect the group to be prog kings and queens but they're actually a fairly straightforward rock group. The band started out as a quartet, and they recorded two albums - 1979's self-titled debut album, and 1980's Armed to the Teeth. But even though the band have a wide range of musical backgrounds their biggest hit came in 1982 with Toto IV. The album was a massive blockbuster, but not without issues. Record companies put the band on position with the order "give us an album that is a success or we'll take you off the market" and the pressure was on to give it. Luckily for Toto they did and they did it with the help of the smash hit single "Africa." Toto's musical mastery owes a lot to their prior experience in the music industry, as the band members had been session musicians for artists like Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, and Seals and Crofts prior the group. Their sonic trademark has become the standard for 1980s music, and has inspired a lot of contemporary artists. The album begins hard with songs like Running Out of Time or Unknown Soldier that show the band's ability to write fantastic AOR tunes that slowly creep into your head. The album also has some more mellow, jazzy tracks like The Little Things and Chinatown. The album closes with Great Expectations, a song that combines folk with distortion AOR and sounds completely wrong, but actually is incredibly effective. After Toto IV, the band's fortunes changed towards the negative. David Hungate left the band to pursue a solo career and the band was dominated by drummers. In 1984, Bobby Kimball left the band following drug-related charges. The band continued with Michael Porcaro, Steve Lukather and Michael Porcaro. Toto released Isolation despite the turmoil. It was not as popular as IV. The group managed to release an album that was chart-topping, Kingdom of Desire, in 1992. This album marked Toto's final lineup and the debut of Simon Phillips, a new vocalist. Tours The band has performed across the world, performing to an audience of millions, with sold-out shows in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. https://brix-burgess.mdwrite.net/20-myths-about-toto-site-dispelled has a huge repertoire, and its catalog has been played over one billion times on streaming services across the world. The band's music has inspired numerous generations of fans. Steve Lukather and Joe Williams have developed a deep, colorful friendship that thrives professionally on a global basis. In 2018 the duo celebrated 40 years of Tours Around The Sun by a hugely profitable global tour. The album of the same name debuted at 5 on the Billboard 200. The latest tour of the band features their most popular songs and rarely-performed live deep cuts and an assortment of songs from Lukather's and Williams' individual catalogues. TOTO has an Net Promoter Score of 20. This score measures the likelihood that customers will recommend the brand. Promoters are people who give a positive score to the company and encourage others to utilize its products or services. Detractors are those who have negative opinions about the company and actively discourage people from using its products or services. Join Toto to enjoy a unique cultural experience in Asia. This highlights tour features luxurious accommodation, a cruise on a deluxe junk on Halong Bay and an exploration of Angkor Wat, a mystical temple that the French called Indochine. You will also spend one night in the charming city of Luang Prabang. This UNESCO World Heritage City is a feast for your senses. This is an unforgettable journey that you won't want to miss! Line-up Turn Back, the band's third studio album is an ode to the traditional sextet style, and it was a more consistent, more powerful effort that had a more grittier edge. Its more punk-rock sound was a reflection of the maturation of the group and featured drummer Bobby Kimball's increased proficiency on the drums, as well as a more confident, mature vocal delivery by singer Joseph Williams. David Paich's work was more precise, sharper, and less derivative than on previous recordings. After touring to promote their album, the band recorded the band's Amsterdam live concert which was released on Eagle Records as a 2-CD set entitled Falling In Between. The group released their new studio album just a few months after and then embarked on a world tour promote the album. During this time keyboardist Greg Phillinganes filled in for Paich and bassist David Hungate left the group to spend more time with his family. In 1998, Paich and Lukather started searching through old demos and tapes in search of a new album featuring songs that had never been recorded before. It was completed in 2001 and released as a double album titled Then & Now. It was the first album in the band's history not to feature one single track with the word "A" in its title and it included one previously unreleased track, "Kari-Anne". By 2003, Toto had begun to decline in popularity. The group's fourth record, Old Is New was a commercial failure and vocalist Williams was suffering from laryngitis, which restricted his singing capabilities. Hungate also returned to Nashville and Leland Sklar's drumming duties were replaced by Shem Von Schroeck. Downes, Wetton Palmer and Howe, the original members of Asia, met in England in the early part of 2006 to discuss the possibility that the group could be revived. The group, which was missing Howe who was occupied with Yes at the time, was renamed Toto XIV. They toured extensively. In 2010, the band reunited for another reunion tour with a slightly different line-up, including guitarists Mike Porcaro and Steve Lukather, drummer John Pierce, bassist Shannon Forrest, and multi-instrumentalists Warren Ham and Dominique Taplin. The band also featured the appearance of singer Michael McDonald, and a backing singer named Mabvuto Carpenter.