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In the circumstance that you are reading this, and it has never before dawned upon you the extent to which we are a global economy, I just want to share some news relevant to some photographers, at least in so far as they depend on certain camera brands.

The Earthquake and Tsunami that affected North Eastern Japan last week didn’t only result in the huge loss of human life and social consequences in relative isolation. There are socio-economic and financial waves which are still propagating throughout the globe. Apparently, Japan is responsible for manufacturing some 20% of the worlds electronic device memory, and after the earthquake the financial markets reacted nearly immediately with the increased cost (nearly 12% increased so far) of such goods coming out of Japan. Global Corporations like Canon and Nikon who operate manufacturing plants in affected areas in Japan , like Sendai, have had their operations affected by the earthquake and tsunami[GMP-Map]. They’ve been forced to shut down major camera and lens manufacturing plants due to damage and injuries to employees.

At Canon’s Utsunomiya plant — which contributes to much of the company’s lens output and appears as the letter “U” on the date code — 15 workers were injured and operations have been suspended indefinitely. Nikon’s Sendai plant — which has produced all of Nikon’s pro-level DSLRs including the D3S, D3X, and D700 — has been shut down as well after an unspecified number of workers were injured. No word on when operations at the plants might resume. via petapixel

In good news, the companies are both contributing towards relief efforts going on in Japan. Nikon is donating ~$1.25 million USD to the Japanese Red Cross, while Canon is donating $3.7 million USD.
[GMP-Map]

Ken Rockwell blogs about the Canon/Nikon situation and the Japanese situation.

If you Read Japanese, you can Donate to the Japanese Red Cross

You can also donate to the American Red Cross.

Related articles

• “American Red Cross Contributes an Initial $10 Million to Assist Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami Survivors” and related posts (newsroom.redcross.org)
• Japanese quake forces Sony shutdown, may hit Nikon, more (electronista.com)
• UPDATE 1-Canon: may not resume output at 3 Japan plants this week (reuters.com)
• Japan’s Tech Industry Temporarily Shuts Down (techland.time.com)
• Sundays Best: How To Help Japan Quake/Tsunami Relief Efforts (fingercandymedia.com)
• “How to Donate Money Directly To the Japanese Red Cross and Other Charities” and related posts (mcbrooklyn.blogspot.com)