Pixiq

The following is an update to my previous article:

The Nikon Corporation has issued a statement in respect of its operations following last Friday's devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The production facilities at both Nikon Sendai (professional camera bodies, D700, D3s, and D3x) and Nikon Tochigi (Nikkor lenses) are among those listed as having suffered employees being injured, and equipment and buildings being damaged. Currently, both factories have been shut down, but thankfully, it appears that the Sendai factory was not affected directly by flooding as a result of the tsunami.

Despite the adversity faced by its own operations the Nikon Corporation has reacted to the humanitarian disaster by donating 100 million Yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS). The JRCS have also started to accept donations from other Red Cross Societies around the world, including the U.K. , alternatively it is possible to make a donation direct to the JRCS via Google. At this very early stage in what is clearly going to be a protracted crisis that will require enormous rebuilding efforts, I would respectfully suggest that making a donation to the JRCS is probably one of the most pragmatic measures that can be taken to offer help and support. The extent of the disaster becomes apparent when you look at these pictures.

Nikon are certainly not alone, as several other Japanese camera and hi-tech companies, including Canon, Fuji, Panasonic, Sigma and Sony, all of whom have production facilities in central and northern Japan, have also issued statements about the impact of the current situation on their operations.

The loss of much of the power distribution infrastructure has resulted in many production facilities being shut down, although the greater problem is the significant damage to the electricity generation infrastructure, such as that at the Fukushima nuclear power station, which signals problems not only in the short term but long term as well. The safety measures being taken currently, including the use of sea water to cool the containments and reactor cores, to control the situation will prevent those plants from ever generating electricity again. Until last week approximately one third of Japan's electricity had been produced by their nuclear power stations; the impact on the generation capacity has been severe that to point that across Japan planned power outages occur for several hours duration per day, in order that some power can be re-routed to the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshū, the area most severely affected by last week's events. The long term effect of such a loss to the electricity generation capacity can only be the subject of speculation at this time.

In terms of resuming production operations, I understand that the current plan is for Nikon Imaging to re-open Sendai and Tochigi again in two weeks; however, this is dependent on a number of factors, including availably of power and fuel, but principally the availability of staff, because as of yesterday apparently there was scant information about the situation of employees and their families, especially those who work at the Sendai facility. 

I have heard from several friends and contacts in Japan that earthquakes, both large and small continue in the central and northern areas of the country. Add to this the severe shortages of food, and fuels, along with the fear of the potential for nuclear contamination and it becomes very hard to imagine just what so many people must be going through at the moment.  

On a personal note I have enjoyed several visits to Sendai and the surrounding areas in recent years, so to see so much human tragedy and destruction is heartbreaking, although quite unbelievably it appears that the ancient Godaido wooden Buddhist temple on its tiny rocky island of Godaidojima, just offshore from the seafront of Matsushima Bay has survived!

I am sure you will join me in sending very best wishes and thoughts of sympathy and support to all those in Japan at the moment.

© Simon Stafford