Japanese engineer Jun'ya Toyokawa (1886-1965) designed the inline-4-powered Otomo, which was built by Hakuyosha of Tokyo from 1924 to 1928. At least one was brought to China (specifically Shanghai) in 1925, making the Otomo the first Japanese car to be exported. To promote Otomo, Toyokawa also designed racers and used popular actress Yaeko Mizutani in ads. Unfortunately Hakuyosha's limited production capacity couldn't compete with the new Ford factory in Yokohama or Chevrolet factory in Osaka, which seems to be the main reason Otomos were discontinued after about 250 cars were sold. Toyokawa doesn't seem to have started any new automakers after Otomo and Hakuyosha went out of business, but at least he lived to see the Japanese auto industry expand and begin exporting worldwide after World War II. I saw a 1999 replica of a 1925 Otomo touring car at the National Museum of Nature and Science (Ueno Park, Tokyo) while visiting Japan in January 2025.