Statuses of Japanese Camera/Lens Plants After the Big Earthquake & Tsunami

Statuses of the Japanese camera gear factory plants after the Japanese historic earthquake and tsunami:-

1. Nikon high-end camera production halted with no expected resumption date:

http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0313/TKY201103130135.html
(Japanese Asahi News, in Japanese)

The damage to the factory is reported to be minimal, but both supplies of electricity and raw materials are in shortage and thus production must be halted and production resumption date cannot be expected at the current stage. The Agata Miyagi, where the Nikon factory is located, is actually one of the most serious stricken area and it is reported that at least one ten-thousand of people are lost at one almost completely destructed city (mainly by fire resulted from the earthquake).

2. Canon high-end lens plants in Japan ceased production:

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0312/TKY201103120436.html
(Asahi News, in Japanese)

It is reported that several Canon factories have been damaged and the top of a factory has collapsed. Tens of the factory staff were injured and production was ceased.

3. Sony halted production and evacuated six factories in northeastern Japan:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-11/toyota-other-japanese-companies-assessing-damage-from-miyagi-earthquake.html

4. Workers at Panasonic's Lumix camera factory in Fukushima have been injured in the earthquake:

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Panasonic_Lumix_plant_shaken_by_quake_Minor_injuries_news_306245.html

5. Production of Fuji X100 has been halted and marketing of the X100 will be delayed:

http://photorumors.com/2011/03/14/fujifilm-finepix-x100-production-halted-lens-hood-available-for-pre-order-and-more/


It is quite sad afterall. But human lives are far more important than all those asset losses anyway. I hope all the affected people are still well and they will recover soon.

As a side note, as most of us should have known, Pentax/Hoya has no camera/lens factory in Japan locally now and production should not be affected.