Japan Firms Make Responses after U.S.-Israeli Attacks on Iran

Tokyo, March 2 (Jiji Press)–Major Japanese companies are taking steps in response to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. Club Tourism International Inc., a subsidiary of KNT-CT Holdings Co., has canceled all tours that were scheduled to leave Japan between Saturday and Monday and transit the Middle East. About 130 affected customers will receive full refunds. H.I.S. Co. and JTB Corp. will cancel tours via the Middle East. Japan Airlines decided to extend the cancellation of its regular flights between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Doha, the capital of Qatar, until Sunday. Isuzu Motors Ltd., which has plants in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East, banned nonessential business trips to the region while the factories remain operational. Toyobo Co., a maker of textiles and other materials, decided to suspend business trips to Iran and Israel. Plant engineering firm Chiyoda Corp. instructed employees in Qatar and other countries in the region to refrain from going outside. A major general trading company said that its Japanese employees in Iran already evacuated the country several years ago amid continued tensions there. The Strait of Hormuz, the main artery for crude oil transportation, has been effectively closed due to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, leading three major Japanese shipping companies–Nippon Yusen K.K., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd.–to halt their ship operations in the strategic waterway. Masaru Ikemi, president and CEO at seafood company Umios Corp., formerly Maruha Nichiro Corp., said that soaring energy prices are a source for concern. “We have to respond by analyzing the situation properly,” he added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]