A trend that is picking up steam with Japanese companies, after the March 11 disasters, is to ask employees to take time off without pay. JAL is doing just that.
JAL wants employees to take time off without pay, in May and June. The reason is a huge drop in passengers since March 11. JAL hopes at least 100 employees will take time off during each month.
I know an employee of the Ontario, California, Toyota North American Parts Center distribution warehouse.
He says they have been ‘requested’ to take “leave without pay”, due to the parts shortage in Japan.
While they are enjoying time with their families they are concerned about how long their time off without pay will last, they can’t go too long without getting paid. Toyota is not certain about when parts will start flowing into the U.S. again.
Stores are running out of beer.
Sapporo Breweries Ltd. and Asahi Breweries Ltd. each had two beer factories damaged by the March 11 disasters. Kirin Brewery Co. had its Sendai factory in hardest-hit Miyagi Prefecture damaged.
A manufacturer of materials for beer cans is affected as well. Sapporo switched to using bottles only, but then ran out of ingredients for beer.
A couple of weeks ago the governments of North and South Korea met over the resurrection of a dormant volcano, Mount Paekdu (Baekdu). The Korean volcano stirred to life after the 9.0 quake off the Pacific Coast of Japan on March 11. The last time it erupted was in 1903.
Korean officials have decided the situation is urgent enough to have another meeting about it. The volcano sits on the border of North Korea, and China.
South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research said that an eruption now could drop temperatures by two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) for two months, devastating agriculture.
Haiti was hit by a 7.0 quake in January 2010, which devastated several cities. Donations came in, officially anyway, but according to the UN (United Nations) only a fraction has gotten through.
Donations to Japan, after their catastrophic disasters on March 11, still lag behind the official donation numbers reported for Haiti. Japanese media is already reporting problems getting aid to their people.
“Tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers should have given way to bulldozers, engineers, more police instructors, experts in support to justice and to the penitentiary system.”-President René Préval
Outgoing Haitian President René Préval has pleaded with countries, and charities, to hurry up and get the aid out. President Préval is the only Haitian president to complete two terms without being jailed or exiled.
“Now that we’ve had this election, and the international community has accepted the results and verified and participated in the oversight of it, I think greater donor disbursements are important.”-Bill Clinton, UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Haiti
This is not a good sign for the people of Japan. Haiti got more aid money than Japan, so far, and yet, more than a year later, Haiti is still waiting to see it. I don’t think Japan, with its catastrophic disasters, can rely on any help from the world community.
Honda will cut back production in the United Kingdom. Due to lack of parts Honda will reduce production at its Swindon, England, plant by 50%.
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan said their survey of the sea floor, between 40km to 130km off Miyagi Prefecture, moved 5.6 meters to 15 meters towards the east-southeast.
The Japanese Coast Guard says they confirmed sea floor movement with their seabed observation points. They say the sea floor moved 23 meters (75 feet) east-southeast, and it rose by 3 meters (9.8 feet).
Japanese home builders are facing the same problems that car makers and electronics industries are facing; lack of parts, lack of power.
Temporary housing is being built for the survivors who lost their homes due to the March 11 tsunami, or those who evacuated the government’s 20km nuclear danger zone.
Contractors say they are running into problems getting the materials needed to complete the mobile homes. Also, they are working without external electrical power supply, and they are running out of fuel for their portable generators.
Contractors say they will do their best for the survivors.
The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that they had no plans to explain the dangers of contaminated fish to the fishing industry. Japanese fishermen have been turned away from fish markets with their entire catch in tow.
The Federation of Fisheries Cooperative said they asked for an explanation of the dangers, but got none. Many fishing companies continued to fish after reports of radioactive contamination in the ocean.
Iwaki city officials, in one of the biggest fishing areas of Japan, say they’ve been waiting for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to explain the situation, but, arrogantly the government agency said that they were waiting for the local people to come to them first.
Sounds like the arrogant Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency needs to pull their head out!
University of California Berkeley is reporting that their own testing on rain water revealed radiation contamination 181 times safe limits.
The Federal government’s max safe level of iodine-131 allowed in drinking water is 0.111 becquerels per liter. The UC Berkeley test showed iodine-131 at 20.1 becquerels per liter. Again, that was a test of rain water. Eventually the rain water will end up in municipal water supplies.