QUAKE FORCES DOWNWARD REVISION OF JAPAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

From Kyodo News.

Nomura Securities Co. on Thursday revised downward Japan's real economic growth projection for fiscal 2011 starting next month to 1.1 percent from an earlier estimated 1.5 percent due to last Friday's devastating earthquake in northeastern Japan.

Damage from the disaster is estimated at 12.7 trillion yen, some 30 percent greater than losses from the Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995, the brokerage's Financial & Economic Research Center said.
The disaster is estimated to reduce Japanese companies' production capacity by 0.2 percent and affect private consumption, it said.

Electric outages planned by some utilities may work to reduce the nation's gross domestic product about 0.3 percent by affecting private consumption, these firms' earnings and business operations of banks and telecommunications firms, it said.

Many often consider the 1980's to be a "golden age" of anime while there is some truth to that, what people forget is that the Japanese economy was roaring at that time. Thus we saw some really great anime being cranked out by studios. Now Japan is still trying to recover from the "lost decade" and the 2007-2011 financial crisis  with their economy taking a direct hit from the earthquake and nuclear emergency. Lets not forget the further devaluation of the dollar to the yen.

What type of affect this will have on the production committees for the creation of anime is unknown at this time. However, it is safe to assume that this level of economic upheaval in the country is going to have an effect.