The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck north east Japan at 5pm on 11 March, subsequent tsunami and damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power facility, have combined to become one of the worst disasters in Japan’s history.
Responding to widespread civilian displacement, Tokyo’s largest venue, Tokyo Big Sight, confirmed it is to shelter 3,000 evacuees from the stricken area. It’s a measure we saw put into practice at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
More than 350,000 people were still living in evacuation centres or temporary housing in northern and eastern Japan at time of writing, the majority short of food, water and fuel. In Tokyo however, major roads to the worst-affected areas were reopened to traffic, and the bullet trains have also returned to service, making it easier to get relief supplies to the area.
According to a spokesman for Tokyo Big Sight, home of the Tokyo International Motor Show, the structure of the exhibition centre remains undamaged by the earthquake. However, scheduled international exhibitions have been postponed.
Tad Ishizumi, president of Reed Exhibitions Japan and chairman of the Japanese Exhibition Association (JEXA), told EW he hopes the situation for Tokyo’s exhibition sector will return to normal before long. “Despite these terrible circumstances, we feel fortunate and lucky,” he said. “We found no employees injured and no relatives of our employees killed or injured so far.”
However he confirmed the impact of the earthquake was felt at Reed’s office in the capital. “The office was shaken so hard that all our employees could not stand still, but the damage to the office was pretty small.”
Ishizumi added that Tokyo was not hosting a show when the disaster struck. “Had the accident happened the previous week, when we hold one of our largest shows - the Renewable Energy Expo - it would have been totally disastrous and chaotic.”
Reed Japan was forced to cancel two ‘pre-exhibit seminars for exhibitor’ events, scheduled for 14 and 15 March, both of which catered for 500 exhibitors and prospects. The organiser is evaluating alternative dates for the meetings.
“Japan has been hit by its largest ever earthquake and tsunami. The sad thing is that the number of casualties is increasing and the damage to infrastructure is becoming bigger as the time goes by,” Ishizumi added.
So now begins the road to recovery. At time of writing, power had been restored to the reactors in Fukushima, where workers were fighting to stem a radioactive leak. But with so many troubles ahead to manage, Ishizumi said the Japanese exhibition market has determined to resolve them one by one. Basic amenities taken for granted have to be re-established before progress can be made and the international market re-engaged.
“We could not communicate with other countries until now because our infrastructure was completely damaged, including telephone, transportation, electricity and water,” he said. “But in the Tokyo area we are now in a much better situation than other parts of Japan.”
Commentators estimate the cost of Japan’s repair at around US$150bn. It’s a huge task, so let’s hope Tokyo’s international exhibition business recovers soon; there has never been a more important time for overseas business to invest in Japan.
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