More problems for Tokyo Electric Power Company. Another one of their nuke plants, in Niigata Prefecture, started smoking. The smoke came from a control panel.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant is located on the west side of Honshu, opposite where the 11 March 2011, 9.0 quake hit.
TEPCo officials say the control panel started smoking when they were checking water purification equipment. At this point, they don’t know why.
The German government announced that they will end the use of nuclear power plants as soon as possible.
Germany is prepared to spend the money necessary to make renewable clean energy sources their main power supply by 2020. Germany will keep its coal and natural gas fire electrical plants in operation.
“As (Toyota) continues to address its production situation in Japan following the disaster, it has decided that vehicle production from May 10 to June 3 will proceed at approximately 50 percent of normal.”-company statement
Basically the situation for “key component suppliers” (parts makers) is still too unreliable to resume full production.
Toyota says it will continue to evaluate the situation, and make the necessary adjustments to production.
8 employees were fired, and 25 had their pay cut by 30%, for not paying for tickets on their own monorail service.
JR East Tokyo Monorail, says most of the employees were in management positions. They would board the train for work, swipe their pay cards, then once at work, would use the company computers to delete the charge.
One employee almost got away with 590,000 yen worth of fares. Unpaid fares have cost JR East over 1.2 million yen.
The U.S. based World Bank says international food prices have entered the “danger zone”, and are heading towards the “tipping point”.
World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, blames in on several things.
People in countries where the economies are good, are buying more meat. The problem is that increasing meat production means more grain crops going to ranchers, instead of food for people. Crops used for bio-fuels, instead of food, is also a problem.
Then there’s a supply system problem; it’s taking longer to rebuild stocks of basic food ingredients, once they are used up. This is made worse by the fact that many countries are facing lower crop production mainly because of climate change (cold wx, flooding and drought).
Add to that oil. Petroleum is used for fertilizers, pesticides, etc, and that is adding to the cost of food production.
One country, China, is so scared of lack of food that they’re buying up huge tracts of land in Africa for food production.
Zoellick says this is a long term problem, we’re only at the beginning of higher food prices. Also, while countries with more money to buy food are seeing higher prices, the poorer countries are paying far more for their food.
Zoellick says just since last year the higher prices have pushed 44 million people into poverty. He predicts another 10% increase in food prices will push another 10 million people into poverty.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, apologized for a statement he never made. It concerned the possibility that people would not be able to return home in the radiation zones.
The statement was actually made by a special adviser to the Prime Minister, 
Kenichi Matsumoto, who had explained that the they were considering building what would be a refugee city, based on Germany’s eco-friendly models, just in case people could not go home.
Some people in Japan seemed to ignore the possibility of building new self sustaining committees, and were upset about not being able to go home. Even if they “went home” they still need to rebuild, and the suggestion to follow the German model is still good.
Hitachi is rushing to fill orders for giant turbine power generators. One of their first orders was sent off today. It’s being sent to Ibaraki Prefecture.
The turbine generator weighs 50 tons, and took an hour and a half to be hauled nine miles to the shipping yards.
Hitachi says it is being swamped with orders since it’s become clear the problems with nuclear generated power will last well into summer.
Subaru (also called Fuji in Japan) is stopping production in Louisiana. Just like other car makers, it’s because of lack of parts. The production shut down will take place on April 15, April 18 and April 25.
Subaru says the employees will be given other work on those days, so they can still be paid.
Volkswagen has been considering taking over Japan’s Isuzu, in a joint venture with Germany’s truck maker MAN. They’re a little hesitant after the 11 March 2011 disasters.
VW is also working on a partnership with Suzuki. The German car maker has cited cultural differences as problems getting into the Japanese market, but now has to consider the damaged ‘just in time’ production practices in Japan, which is causing the current severe parts shortages.
Daimler (known for Mercedes-Benz) shut down its Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus plant, in Kawasaki, Japan. The shut down came after the March 11 disasters.
As other vehicle makers have said, Daimler says supply of parts will be a continuous problem from here on out. The German company hopes to start production on April 20.
Daimler owns 89.29% of Mitsubishi Fuso.
