By Maki Shiraki and Daniel Leussink

TOYOTA CITY, Japan, June 18 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor ( TM )

Chairman Akio Toyoda may be under pressure from global

investors over governance and scandals, but he remains popular

among mom-and-pop investors who attended its annual shareholder

meeting on Tuesday.

Toyoda is likely to be re-elected as chairman of the world's

largest automaker at the meeting, even though two influential

proxy advisory firms have recommended voting against him, citing

concerns about governance and certification test scandals.

The grandson of the company's founder, Toyoda remains deeply

popular among retail shareholders, many of whom praise him for

steering the company to another year of record profits and

strong stock performance last year.

"I bought Toyota ( TM ) shares with my retirement bonus,"

84-year-old Hidenori Takahashi told Reuters, adding he believed

it was the "best company in Japan" for shareholders.

He said the ongoing certification issues that had roiled the

automaker were "a bad thing" but that Toyoda seemed eager to

take steps to prevent the wrongdoing from recurring.

While Toyoda faces little risk of not being re-elected, a

big fall in his approval rating could be an embarrassment for a

company that has been the world's top-selling automaker four

years in a row.

Toyoda's approval rating fell to 85% last year from 96% in

2022.

The automaker has been bedevilled by a spate of safety and

other certification testing violations at Toyota ( TM ) and its group

companies, including small car maker Daihatsu. Institutional

Shareholder Services (ISS) has taken issue with the way the

automaker has dealt with problem.

New York City's public-employee pension funds agrees and is

voting against Toyoda's re-election. Michael Garland, who

oversees corporate governance for the funds, said the vote

against Toyoda was driven by safety and compliance concerns.

"Setting a tone at the top is critical," Garland said in an

emailed statement.

Glass Lewis, which is recommending that Toyoda not be

re-elected for a second year in a row, said that he is

responsible for the board's lack of independence and also cited

concerns about its strategic shareholding and return on equity.

More certification irregularities have come to light since

the proxy advisers made their recommendations.

In early June, Toyota ( TM ) said it had wrongly conducted six

different vehicle certification tests in the past, including for

three models that were still being sold.

It has said its wrongdoing included conducting some of the

tests under more strict conditions than those set out by the

government, invalidating their results.

Toyota's ( TM ) shares have fallen 10% since then, but are still up

18% for the year.

Toyota ( TM ) has told Reuters previously that taking stock of its

mistakes was long rooted in its corporate culture and Toyoda

would take the lead in re-instilling that culture and working

with group companies to ensure effective governance.

Also up for vote is a shareholder proposal from Danish

pension fund AkademikerPension that urges Toyota ( TM ) to improve

disclosure of its lobbying on climate change.

Toyota's ( TM ) board has opposed the proposal.