The Band Toto Asia Toto was expanding production facilities overseas, and was 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 Washlet toilets and bidet seats, in contrast to its "base" markets in Japan and China. Dhaniram Toto recorded Toto words to ensure that the future generation could understand the words. Many words were replaced with foreign ones. For instance dui, which was Bengali for verandah, was used. Origins Toto's early history, which began in 1917, mirrored Japan's economic expansion. In the first half of 1917, Toto made products to meet the demands for modern, contemporary urban housing. To do this, it employed the country's first tunnel kiln that produced ceramics in a continuous flow. It also pioneered the use automation to control production, which allows for more efficiency and consistency. In the latter half of the 1980s, the company began expanding outwards to take advantage of sales and new markets. It established the Cera Trading Company, importing and distributing other manufacturers' products to complement its own line of sanitary earthenware and plumbing fittings. This strategy helped increase sales and expanded the firm's global market share. By the 1990s, Toto had shifted its focus on research and development of household appliances that are water-related. It also improved its distribution system to better meet the needs of its customers and increase profits. The company used the same just-in time approach in its supply chain management as well as sales program. This resulted in a higher level customer satisfaction. Toto has been able to continue to innovate on the toilet technology. The latest toilet, for example it has an extremely powerful tornado flush that is more ecologically friendly than traditional toilets. Toto uses recycled water in its manufacturing process, and has a green buying policy. In addition to toilets Toto manufactures faucets and bathtubs, as well as hand dryers that are more energy efficient than standard models. The first museum of the company opened in the year 2015, and it has exhibitions on Toto's seminal products and their development, its group companies (all that deal with ceramics) as well as the history of plumbing and products like bath units and, in a different gallery, Toto products sold around the world. The museum also has a bathroom with a washbasin and other toilet innovations. Before forming Toto, members of the band did sessions for many musicians. Boz Scaggs album Silk Degrees featured keyboardist David Paich, guitarists Mike Porcaro & Steve Lukather as well as drummer Jeff Porcaro & Steve Lukather. They also played on records by Steely Don, 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 it's actually a fairly simple rock group. The group was formed as four members and released two albums: 1979's self-titled debut and 1980's Armed to the Teeth. However, even though the group have a diverse musical background their biggest breakthrough was in 1982 with Toto IV. The album was a massive blockbuster but not without its issues. Record companies put the band on the spot with the ultimatum "give us a hit record or we'll take you off the market" and the pressure was on to deliver. Toto was able achieve this with the help from the smash hit "Africa." Toto's musical mastery owes a lot to their prior experience in the music industry, as the band members were session musicians for artists such as Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, and Seals and Crofts prior to forming the group. Their distinctive sound has become the standard for '80s music, influencing many contemporary artists. This album starts off hard, with songs such as Running Out of Time and Unknown Soldier showcasing the bands ability to write amazing AOR songs that slowly build their hooks into your. 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 could sound completely wrong, but actually works wonderfully well. After Toto IV The band's fortunes turned to the downside. David Hungate left to concentrate on his solo career, and the band was through several drummers. In 1984, Bobby Kimball was fired from the band in the wake of drug charges and the group continued to perform as a trio, which included Michael Porcaro and Steve Lukather. Toto released Isolation despite the turbulence. It was not as popular as IV. However, the group was able to release a chart-topping album in the year 1992 with Kingdom of Desire. This album marked the end of the original Toto lineup and was also the first to feature a new singer, Simon Phillips. Tours The band has performed for millions of fans across the globe, and has sold-out shows in Europe, North America and Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand. The band has a huge collection of songs, and their catalog has been heard more than one billion times via streaming services all over the world. The band's music has inspired many generations of fans. Steve Lukather and Joe Williams have developed a deep colorful friendship that is thriving professionally on a worldwide basis. In 2018 the duo celebrated their 40th anniversary of Tours Around the Sun with a wildly successful global tour. The album with the same title was ranked at #5 on the Billboard 200. The band's latest tour includes their most popular hits rare live deep-cuts and some songs that come from Lukather's and Williams' individual catalogues. https://rentry.co/xdocdvkp has a customer satisfaction rating of 20 based on its Net Promoter Score which measures how likely its customers are to recommend the brand. Promoters are people who give a good score to the company and encourage others to use 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 highlight tour of a region the French used to call Indochine offers luxurious accommodation, a trip on a luxurious cruise ship in Halong Bay, and an exploration of the mystical temples of Angkor Wat. It also includes one night in the charming city of Luang Prabang. This UNESCO World Heritage City is a feast for the senses. This is a excursion you should not be missing! Line-up The album's third, Turn Back, marked a return to the classic sextet arrangement of the previous albums. It was a more powerful, consistent effort with an edge that was more pronounced than Hydra. The more edgier sound of Turn Back reflected the development of the group. The drummer Bobby Kimball's increasing ability to play was evident in the vocals of Joseph Williams, who had become more confident and mature. David Paich's keyboard skills were as well more refined, more precise and less akin to earlier efforts. After touring to promote the album, the group recorded a live concert in Amsterdam that was released as a set of two CDs entitled Falling In Between Live on Eagle Records. A new studio album was released just a few months later and the band embarked on a world-wide tour in support of the album. During this period keyboardist Greg Phillinganes replaced Paich and bassist David Hungate quit the group to spend time with his family. In 1998, Paich and Lukather started looking through old demo tapes and tapes to make an album that would feature songs that had never been recorded before. It was released as a double album titled Then And Now in 2001. It was the first album in the band's history not to feature any single song that had the word "A" in the title, and it also contained one previously not released track, "Kari-Anne". By 2003, Toto had begun to decline in popularity. The group's fourth record, Old Is New was not a commercial success and vocalist Williams was suffering from laryngitis, which affected his singing abilities. Hungate also returned to Nashville and Leland Sklar's drumming was replaced by Shem Von Schroeck. Downes along with the other members of Asia--Wetton, Palmer, and Howe--convened a meeting in England in early 2006 to discuss the possibility of reforming the band. The lineup, which was minus Howe (who was busy with Yes at the time) was later referred to as Toto XIV and 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 had a special guest appearance from singer Michael McDonald and a backing vocalist named Mabvuto Carver.