Down below is a story written by Takahashi Yoshio (surname first) about the damages to a Honda car manufacturing facility located someplace in Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture). Where? I can't believe I actually had to search the friggin' Internet to find out that answer. It's not an easy thing to find, as everyone just sort of gives some of the information you want - and when you think you find it, you have to CONFIRM it's correct.
I've been surfing computers since the late 1970s (before the first Tron movie). Back in the early 1990s when the Internet was young, I would say that 90% of what was on-line was crap - full of misrepresentations and simply a lot of information that people thought was correct, but was wrong.
Here at Japan - It's A Wonderful Rife, I do my homework and try to present fair and compelling news and stories to entertain you.
The following story was interesting... but it was still incomplete - and it was in the Wall Street Journal!!!
My research (so you don't have to) shows that the Honda plant mentioned in the story is located in the town Moka-machi (Town of Moka) in Tochigi-ken. However, another website listing all of Honda's plants in Japan shows me that while Moka is close by, the Honda plant in this story is located in:
Haga-machi (Haga Town), Haga-gun (Haga District), Tochigi-ken - near the town of Moka... and about 28 kilometres south of my hometown of Ohtawara-shi.
More information... the plant in question... it's Honda's main factory where it manufactures automobile parts. On the site, there is also the Automobile R&D (Research & Development) Center which is utilized by Honda R&D Co., Ltd. and Honda Engineering Co., Ltd. New car designs developed at other locations undergo comprehensive development at the Tochigi R&D Center.
The Honda Tochigi plant's website is HERE in Japanese.Aside from the story talking about the damage to just one facility in my old home Prefecture, these are the first photos I've seen from that area. So, it's cool in that way. There certainly was a lot more damage there than I thought - and that's just this one facility!
Honda has said that it will take several months for repairs to be completed at this and other facilities damaged by the earthquake, and has in the interim, transferred many functions like automobile product development, development of manufacturing technologies and procurement to Honda operations in Sayama (in Saitama-ken = Saitama Prefecture), Suzuka (in Mie-ken = Mie Prefecture), and Wako also in Saitama-ken.
Here's the original story as it was sent to me.
Honda Chief: By Motorbike to Quake-hit Site
By Yoshio Takahashi
Yoshio Takahashi/The Wall Street Journal
Honda Motor Co.’s R&D center, damaged by the March 11 earthquake, in Tochigi Prefecture.
Yoshio Takahashi/The Wall Street Journal
Honda Motor Co. CEO Takanobu Ito at the auto maker’s Tochigi plant.
Yoshio Takahashi/The Wall Street Journal
Honda engineers work at a temporary design space in another building at the Tochigi plant.
After the March 11 disasters, highways were closed and many roads were severed by the impact of the earthquake. But the man who runs Honda Motor Co. needed to get to Honda plants at Tochigi, about 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, as quickly as possible — a 43-year-old male employee died when the wall of a cafeteria crumbled, and 17 other Honda employees were injured at one of the company’s most important sites.
So Takanobu Ito, the top executive at the world’s biggest motorcycle maker by volume, took to his Honda CB1100 “naked” motorbike two days after the quake to get to the Tochigi facilities, a vehicle research center, a manufacturing-technology development subsidiary and a component factory. The CB100 is a company mainstay, the “naked” version carrying no fancy frills.
Even though the location, about 200 kilometers south of Sendai, is relatively far from the seismic source, a seismic intensity of seven was recorded on site when the massive 9.0 quake hit a month ago. Demonstrating the severity of the damage, Honda last Friday allowed reporters to visit a design room at the R&D center that was completely smashed by the quake. Most ceiling panels in the room fell on the floor and electric cables and air-conditioning ducts were hanging from the ceiling. About 1,000 engineers were transferred to its Saitama, Suzuka and Hamamatsu factories as a temporary measure so they can work closely with those in charge of manufacturing operations.
The 57-year-old executive said he first drove a Honda car from Tokyo to his house in Utsunomiya, in the same prefecture as Tochigi, taking back roads with the highway network from the capital closed. The CEO then changed to the still brand-new motorbike he bought last spring to approach the quake-hit area. The pearl white 1100cc-engine CB was able to roll through disrupted roads around the facilities that a car would find it hard to navigate, he said.
“I saw quite a lot of roads closed right after the quake,” Mr. Ito said. “I drove around by my motorcycle from my home, and it worked,” he told reporters at the research center in Hagamachi, Tochigi.
Despite the scale of the damage, and subsequent aftershocks, the site wasn’t completely abandoned. Other staffers were moved to a design space in another building on the same site, filling the location with about 500 engineers — three times the usual capacity.
Thanks to these efforts, the car maker was able to restart R&D operations at the facility earlier than expected – reopening two weeks after the quake hit, Mr. Ito said. “I thought development operations could have been stalled for a few months, though I wanted to avoid that long (of a suspension). I was really encouraged that we could restart just in a few weeks,” he said.
“This is a place where all Honda’s brains are gathered. There is no way to shut this place. We’ll definitely re-establish here,” the CEO said.
And there you have the Wall Street Journal article. And my story behind the story.
As well, the story doesn't state the name of the person who died - I've looked and looked and can't find the name. It may not have been released to the media - but someone must know. Honestly, it's not important to the story, but it is important, if you know what I mean.
Somewhere on the road,
Andrew Joseph
PS: The top photo was taken from Honda's Japan website and is the property of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
PPS: The photos within the Wall Street Journal article are the property and are clearly marked as such by the Wall Street Journal and the article's author, Yoshio Takahashi. It was a nice story - just lacking in a few details. How big was the facility? How many workers? Stuff like that.
