Quake Leaves Mobile, Retail Service Disrupted in Japan

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)--Services related to people's daily lives, including mobile phone and retail, have been disrupted in northeastern Japan due to a powerful earthquake that struck the region Wednesday night.

Mobile operators NTT Docomo Inc. and KDDI Corp. <9433> reported disruption to their services in parts of Fukushima Prefecture. Mobile services offered by SoftBank Corp. <9434> and Rakuten Mobile Inc. have been disrupted in parts of Fukushima and neighboring Miyagi Prefecture.

There is a possibility that more areas will be affected by the disruption as wireless base stations in power outage areas are being operated by an emergency power backup system.

About 80 convenience stores run by Seven-Eleven Japan Co., a unit of Seven & i Holdings Co. <3382>, were shut temporarily mainly in Fukushima and Miyagi. Many FamilyMart Co. and Lawson Inc. <2651> convenience stores were also closed in the region.

The Sendai Mitsukoshi department store in Miyagi suspended operations for Thursday.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]