The future was looking bright for the president of coffee shop chain Benugo Japan. After taking over the post last October, he managed to pay off the struggling company's debts and put sales on the right track.
The future was looking bright for the president of coffee shop chain Benugo Japan. After taking over the post last October, he managed to pay off the struggling company's debts and put sales on the right track.
But in early June, the company, which had run two stores in prime Tokyo locations, went bankrupt.
"The company could have survived if it had come through in the first few months after the quake," he said.
More than five months after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, Benugo Japan and other companies that operate outside the disaster-stricken Tohoku region are still going belly-up.
Some have failed because of the heavy damage to their business partners during the quake and tsunami. Others, like Benugo Japan, succumbed to the slump in consumer spending after the disaster.
Benugo Japan, which originally started as a sandwich store in Britain, ran a shop at Lehman Brother Holdings Inc.'s office in the Roppongi Hills building, one of the nation's most prestigious sites.
But after the U.S. investment bank collapsed in September 2008, Benugo Japan's once-stable sales started declining.
The president thought he had the situation turned around, but the March 11 temblor shattered all optimism.
Customers stopped coming to the chain's Ebisu store. Some regulars had been instructed by their employers to stay home.
In March, Benugo Japan's daily sales sometimes amounted to only several thousand yen (about $25 to $35), resulting in a 80-90 percent year-on-year sales decline for the month.
An advertising agency in Tokyo that ran ads for hotels in the Tohoku region and neighboring northern Kanto area started struggling to stay afloat in late May.
The March 11 earthquake struck one day after three tourist magazines carrying information on tourist destinations in Tohoku, Fukushima and Nikko-Nasu were published.
Fears of radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant kept customers away from hotels in the region. As a result, the hotels that advertised in the magazine could not pay the agency a total of 30 million yen (about $389,000) owed in fees.
The agency's former president, perhaps unfairly, took the blame, saying he had caused tremendous problems for employees, business partners, banks and his family.
"I keep wondering I could have held on for a bit longer," he said.
An apparel maker dealing in upscale jeans also filed for bankruptcy rehabilitation with a court in early May. The company, which employs about 100, has not cut jobs or salaries. It has been busy with inventory checks and merchandise markdowns.
However, with the quake occurring before an expected rise in demand for spring and summer outfits, the maker's sales dropped 30 to 40 percent from a year ago during the post-quake period.
"Apparel makers cannot survive with so much in stock," a company executive said. "I did not think the impact of the quake would ever reach this far."
A billboard maker in Tokyo also went bankrupt in June.
According to Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd., the company was expecting orders ahead of the major changes in train schedules in spring. But those orders never came after the March 11 quake.