08/04 Foreign firms moving staff / Some evacuated from Japan; others being called back

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A number of foreign companies have evacuated employees from Japan, citing concern over radioactivity from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Tata Consultancy Services Japan Ltd., an IT service and outsourcing company based in Nishi Ward, Yokohama, sent most of its Indian employees back to India after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that precipitated the nuclear crisis. According to the company, dozens of them are still in India.

A spokesman said the company would carefully monitor the developments at the Fukushima nuclear power plant while waiting for the parent company in Mumbai to decide whether to send the Indian employees back to Japan.

Nine of the 12 foreign employees temporarily transferred to Volkswagen Group Japan K.K. in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, from the parent company have returned to Germany. According to a company official, Europeans are especially wary of nuclear accidents because of the effect the 1986 Chernobyl disaster had on the continent.

The Fukushima nuclear crisis has also begun affecting logistics. According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, 27 foreign container vessels had canceled visits to Tokyo Port, Yokohama Port and other ports in Japan due to concerns over the nuclear situation, as of Sunday.

However, some companies have asked foreign employees who were evacuated from Japan to come back. Also, some companies have returned their Japan offices to Tokyo after moving them to the Kansai region due to concerns over the nuclear accident.

Tobacco company Philip Morris Japan K.K. had returned some of its headquarters' operations to Tokyo by March 24. The operations had been transferred to Osaka after the March 11 disaster.

At Tokyo-based SAP Japan Co., the Japan arm of German software company SAP, all foreign employees who temporarily evacuated have returned to Japan, the company said.

IKEA Japan K.K., the Japan arm of global furniture retailer IKEA, transferred its headquarters to Kobe after the disaster and moved about 60 foreign employees to Hong Kong and other foreign cities. However, the company said it has restored its business structure to the one before the disaster.

Experts have urged the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. to do more to encourage evacuated foreign nationals to return to Japan. "[The government and TEPCO] need to work harder on disclosing accurate information on the Fukushima nuclear accidents, including information on the effects on the human body," said Mitsumaru Kumagai, chief economist at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd.

(Apr. 8, 2011)