Briefing+Books

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 * __Briefing Book__ **

**__5 Article Su__****__mmaries__**

= __Possible future scenarios for Tokyo Electric__ = Just as the conditions at the Fukushima nuclear plant are fluid, so are Tokyo Electric's financial prospects. Last week, the government announced a plan to create a body to help Tepco pay the victims of the nuclear accident. According to the framework, the new body could inject funds through acquiring preferred shares. Between decommissioning costs and compensation related to the disaster, Tepco will likely face trillions of yen in fresh liabilities.

The new body will probably have the ability to support not just compensation liabilities but Tepco's other ongoing cash needs. While this would allow the company to stay afloat, the prospect of profits could be years away as the company struggles to pay the body back out of its future profits. The Nuclear Act technically absolves a nuclear operator for liabilities arising from an extraordinarily large natural disaster.

= **__Japan Reaffirms Nuclear Energy Use__** = Japan remains committed to nuclear power despite the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Prime Minister Naoto Kan indicated as workers moved closer to repairing the crippled plant by opening the doors of a damaged reactor building. Japan's Prime Minister reaffirmed the country's commitment to nuclear energy, although the Hamaoka plant near Tokyo will be temporarily shut down.

There had been speculation that the government might seek to shut down more nuclear plants after Mr. Kan requested last week that the Hamaoka nuclear plant in central Japan be temporarily closed because of safety concerns. The Hamaoka plant’s operator, the Chubu Electric Power Company, is expected to accept the prime minister’s request. The utility company supplies power to central Japan, including Aichi Prefecture, the home of Toyota. = = = = = __Tokyo travel industry on the brink__ =

Visitors from South Korea, Japan's biggest source of tourists, were down by 47%, while fully two-thirds fewer Germans came in March. Few analysts expect a recovery by the summer, despite fighting talk from the commissioner of the Japan's Tourism Agency. The crisis has had an impact on domestic travel. Japan's Travel Bureau Foundation reported outbound flows down by 18% in March.

Spooked foreigners won't return until their governments give them the travel green light. Ninety percent of Japan's foreign tourists come from 15 countries, with Korea and China at the top. Most are still issuing travel advisories.. Travel agencies in many countries are already retooling their marketing strategies for the post-Fukushima era. Overall tourism, especially domestic, is already recovering faster than many expected.

= = = **__Piecing Together a Supply Chain__** =

Two months after Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, Japanese automakers in the United States continue to struggle with significant supply disruptions. Toyota, which gets up to 15 percent of the parts used in its North American plants from Japan, is experiencing shortages of 150 critical parts. The largest American automaker, General Motors, which spends about 2 percent of its parts-buying budget in Japan, identified 118 products that it needed to monitor for shortages but has resolved problems with all but five.

General Motors has coordinated its disaster response from three “crisis rooms” at its Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren, Mich. Any that were unscathed but lacked reliable power and water supplies were labeled in yellow. The team, which requested and quickly received portable air-conditioners to fight the heat created by working long days in close quarters, ultimately identified the 118 problematic products.

= **__Japan's Prime Minister to give up salary__** =

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that he will give up his salary until the nuclear crisis in the country is over. The disaster has led to mandatory evacuations of about 78,000 people living within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the plant. The disaster triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The cores overheated and spewed huge amounts of radioactive contamination across the surrounding area.

The prime minister's announcement comes the same day that about 100 residents, who had been evacuated from an area close to Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, were allowed to return home for a short visit to gather belongings. The 60,000 people that live 10 kilometers of the cores also been ordered to remain sheltered.