"From an infrastructure perspective, Yamaha has been fortunate and is not as affected by this recent disaster as so many other companies. This means that manufacturing and our headquarters operations are in place and running as required to support the global needs of the company.
"For many in Japan, it may take a long time to return to a level that can be considered as "normal." At Yamaha, we will be monitoring the situation carefully and doing all that we can to ensure that this day comes as soon as possible."
A Yamaha Corporation release states, "We at Yamaha wish to express our sincerest sympathies to all those who are experiencing the severe effects of the 2011 Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake, which occurred on 11 March, 2011.
"The Yamaha Group is endeavouring to gather information on the status of damage in the aftermath of the earthquake. As of the present time, we have the following summary information of the effects of the earthquake on Yamaha.
"At present, we have not received any reports of injuries to Yamaha Corporation personnel. Please note that at present there is one employee of a Yamaha subsidiary that we have not been able to contact, but we are continuing to work to obtain information on this person.
"Our sales office in Sendai, Japan, and retail shops of sales companies located in the disaster area sustained some slight damage, and we have closed some retail stores and music schools in this area.
"Our Kakegawa factory (for the production of pianos) and Toyooka factory (for the production of wind and other instruments), both located in Shizuoka Prefecture, are continuing normal operations. However, the operating hours of the Saitama factory (located in Fujimino city in Saitama Prefecture, for the production of wind instruments) are likely to be affected by the planned rolling electricity blackouts.
"We are currently investigating the effects of the earthquake on performance. In the event that we find the outlook is for a major impact on business results, we will make an announcement at an early date."
(Jim Evans)
