Tokyo executives descend on HK
At first he laughed when people in other firms said they were leaving Tokyo following the earthquake 250 kilometres to the north. They must be overreacting, he thought. But within a few days this man, working for an international brokerage, found himself on a plane to Hong Kong.
'Initially there was no big panic ... We all thought the worst was over - until the nuclear reactor meltdown,' he said. 'Once it became clear that there was a danger of getting radiation poisoning, everything changed.
'We'll be staying here for at least three weeks until it's safe to go back.'
The man, who preferred to withhold his name and the name of his company, said other firms had moved staff to southern Japan to avoid the risk of radiation from the stricken Fukushima power plant.
He and his fellow finance fugitives are not alone. As fears mount after the 9.0-magnitude quake nine days ago, many are leaving Japan, and Hong Kong is the ideal place to go to. Most people can get visitor's visas valid for up to three months and the financial centre is the equivalent of Tokyo's: the world's most reputable businesses all have offices in the city.
This man said the worries about radiation were not the only reason people were leaving Tokyo.
'Our offices were badly damaged during the quake and it would have been impossible to work there anyway. We were better off just going to our offices in Hong Kong. It would take days to get our Tokyo office up and running again,' he said.
'There were regular power cuts and there's the worry you'd run out of basic supplies as everyone was panic buying. Time is money in my business and it's the same for many of the other multinational companies that have flown their people out of there ... It's practical business sense.'
He said people were fleeing not only to readily accessible places such as Hong Kong or Taiwan, but to cities as far away as in Australia and the United States.
The Hong Kong government does not have data on the number of arrivals from Japan since the quake hit.
With thousands still trying to get out of Japan, Cathay Pacific put on two extra flights from Tokyo to Hong Kong on Friday and one extra flight yesterday. It will also operate extra flights today and tomorrow.
The extra five services will provide 1,850 seats on top of the 9,700 seats on its seven daily flights from Tokyo over the four-day period. Cathay will also extend the sale of its one-way fare of HK$5,755 from Japan to March 27.
A spokesman for the airline said it would continue to be guided by the advisories issued by Japan, Hong Kong and elsewhere that travel to Tokyo remained safe. As Hong Kong's home carrier, Cathay would make changes to its operations to meet demand for seats out of Tokyo.
