As if the people and enterprises of Japan have not been challenged this year by natural disasters, there are current news reports that Typhoon Roke has impacted areas of western and central Japan. As we pen this commentary, hundreds of thousands people have been urged to evacuate their homes and residences and there are strong concerns for landslides and floods in multiple regions.
Global supply chains, especially automotive and high tech,  felt the impacts of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan in March of this year, and manufacturers are just starting to resume some sense of full production. The people of Japan had no choice but to endure a rather uncomfortable summer as the overall supply of electrical power had to be conserved because of severely limited capacity caused by the nuclear disaster at the Fukishima Station. We noted news reports that Fukishima officials were taking special precautions to protect their facility from any added effects of the current typhoon.
We trust that this latest threat will not be as severe, but in any case, supply chain teams should be alert for any further supply chain related interruptions that could come about as the result of this latest threat. Toyota and other companies sent some employees home early and suspended operations to be prepared for the storm. The western and central regions includes more concentrated areas of production and transportation, and according to an NHK news video, rail and surface transportation halts have already been experienced.
 Bob Ferrari
