Japanese Earthquake 2011

I'm sure that everyone has seen pictures and footage of the terrible earthquake that occurred in Japan, the subsequent tsunami that caused devastation across much of the country's northeastern seaboard and the continuing problems controlling the country's nuclear reactors. Thousands of lives have been lost, it is a terrible tradegy.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been suffered and who will continue to be affected in the coming months and years.

It is especially hard when such a disaster befalls a country which is so wealthy and advanced. There is little that we can do except watch and wait. I have sent messages of support to the Japanese companies that we deal with, to at least demonstrate some solidarity. If you have contacts in Japan, I suggest you do the same, it's not much but shows we are thinking.

Unlike the UK, Japan is still a major paper manufacturing nation and this disaster has and will severely affect the industry. Below is a short summary of just how badly their industry has been affected:

• The enormous flagship Mitsubishi Paper Mills' integrated Hachinohe mill produces 585,000 tonnes/yr of kraft pulp, around 849,000 tonnes/yr of printing/writing paper and 59,000 tonnes/yr of solid bleached board, was hit hard by the tsunami. So far no loss of life has been reported but production has stopped there.
• Nippon Paper Group mill's Ishinomaki, Iwanuma and Nakoso have been offline since the quake. No loss of life reported but production has stopped.
• The Akita mill, (714,000 tonnes per yr) has stopped production. No information is available yet on damage levels or a possible restart date.
• Oji Paper's Nikko mill has stopped production after being affected by the earthquake together with four of its converting plants in the northeast.

Source: http://www.risiinfo.com/
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So I would urge you to get in touch with any graphic designers, clients, contact etc you might know in Japan and at least say that you are thinking of them. Daniel Freytag has got in touch with me and he is producing some silkscreen prints for auction with all proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross.

www.redcross.org.uk/JapanTsunami

 Posted by Justin Hobson 14.03.2011