Update on Japan

Dear friends of GLOBIS & KIBOW,

This is my 4th email to you after March 11th. The reasons why I am sending emails to you are simple. I feel that foreign media are not doing their jobs and I guessed that you would love to hear what an entrepreneur living in Tokyo is thinking about.

One Canadian student who has flown from Toronto on March 13th to Tokyo to join GLOBIS International MBA Program (our academic year starts from April) said to me, “CNN and Fox are disgusting; I thought BBC was fair, but this time even BBC is over exaggerating”.

One female Malaysian student who has flown into Tokyo just two days ago said “If you are in KL, you think that all of Tokyo is contaminated by radiation. My parents strongly begged me not to come to Tokyo. After arriving here, everything is amazingly normal.”

This is the typical reaction you get when you talk to people in Tokyo now.
In this 4th issue, I would like to draw your attention to just 3 points.

1. Fukushima Nuclear Reactor seems to be stabilizing:

Hong Kong Radiation Exceeds Tokyo Even After Nuclear Crisis -Businessweek

http://buswk.co/gSUS9P

If you live in Tokyo, the radiation you get in the air is minimal. The level of the air and water is decreasing and most of us are back in business as usual. My wife who has to take care of 5 kids does not mind drinking tap water now.

2. You get all the attention just being in Japan now!

If you come to Tokyo now, you will get all the attention. After the exodus of foreigners, Roppongi is quite a different place and hotels are filled just with local residence. Shangri-la Hotel has decided to close down for one month. We would just have to question their level of commitment to Japan.

At the last email that I had sent to you, I have criticized French
Government for having caused panic in Tokyo by sending chartered flight to evacuate French people out of Japan, but recently French is showing strong sing of coming back. President Sarkozy and CEO of French nuke firm Areva has visited Japan, and vowed to support Japan.

Saudi Aramco has grabbed the headline by CEO Al-Falih visiting Japan on
March 22nd when no foreigner even thought about touching Japan, and offered
a $20 million donation to help Japanese recovery efforts.

Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Renault- Nissan Alliance, visited a Nissan factory in Iwaki, which is within 40 KM radius from Fukushima Nuclear Reactor on March 31st has gained the support of people in Iwaki by showing his commitment to Fukushima and Japan. GE chief executive Jeff Immelt is now in Japan.

You will get all the attention just by visiting Japan now. On the other hand, if you do not show your commitment, you will just simply be disregarded after Japan recovers.

I am still shocked with Lufthansa who stops in Seoul-Incheon to allow for crew changes. “That way the crews no longer have to stay in Japan overnight”. What a bad message that Lufthansa is sending to Japan. Japanese people are so frustrated with this policy that some of my friends told me that they would never fly Lufthansa. After all, we have not heard strong messages from German, yet.

3. Going back to business as usual

Most of the houses in Japan except for the region that was hit by Tsunami have regained electricity, water and gas. The roads have been fixed and trains have gradually started running. The speed of the recovery of factories is acclaimed by an Israeli friend of mine as “amazing”.

As for me, GLOBIS has just finished Entrance Ceremony for newly entering students of International MBA program today. We have 12 different nationalities, such as French, Canadian, Thailand, Chinese, Korean, Nigerian, Danish, etc. All together, the number of students who entered GLOBIS MBA in both Japanese and English languages is 348, which makes us as the largest business school in Japan with best ranked by Nikkei Career Magazine for 2 consecutive years.

I have attached a speech memo that I have used today. Japanese are working hard to go back to business as usual, but we still have three issues hanging in front of us.

1)Perceived danger & uncertainties on Fukushima

2)Power shortages caused by the shutdown of most of nuclear reactors in Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

3)Supply chain problems: The tsunami has washed out some of the critical factories in Touhoku region, and Radiation is forcing some factories operating within 20‾30km radius from Fukushima to cease operation.

However, cherry blossoms have started to bloom, so the mindset of Japanese people is becoming much more positive now. Furthermore, I can feel that there is strong energy coming out from within us. We can say that Japanese people are truly committed not only to rebuild Japan, but to create and innovate something new after this disaster.

So hopefully, you can spread words that Japan is coming back.

Yours,

GLOBIS & KIBOW Leader
Yoshi Hori

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