After the 8.9 earthquake struck Japan last week, both ICOM and Kenwood, as well Yaesu, have issued statements how the natural disaster has affected their operations. Yaesu had reported that one of their factories in Fukushima was damaged and will be closed for “one to two weeks.”

ICOM

According to a press release, no one from ICOM is known to be injured. No damage has been reported at ICOM’s headquarters in Osaka, or at either of their two main factories in Wakayama; both Osaka and Wakayama are located far south of the most severely affected areas. The branch offices in Tokyo and Sendai, however, did suffer some minor damage. “Most of ICOM’s facilities and systems are ready to get back to normal business, but supplier logistics, commuting issues and future power disruptions will affect our company,” the press release said. “It is too soon to tell how big an impact the earthquake and its aftermath will have on ICOM. We appreciate your interest and concern.”

Kenwood

“Thankfully, our staff in Japan is safe due to earthquake preparedness and the special construction of our buildings,” said Kenwood USA President Junji Kobayashi on the Kenwood website. “Power outages and interruption of mass transit have kept most of Kenwood’s staff at home since the earthquake; however, we expect the infrastructure to improve in the coming week and our operations to fully resume accordingly. We appreciate the concern for our employees expressed by all those who have contacted us.” Kenwood’s primary office facilities in Yokohama and Hachioji were not damaged, due to their proximity further south and west of the quake’s epicenter. Since Kenwood’s primary manufacturing facilities are in Malaysia, electronics production is unaffected.