From USA Today:
Almost four months after the March 11 tsunami destroyed their home, Kazuko Abe moved her family of four into temporary housing in July.
"It doesn't matter to me who built the houses, I just wish they could have been quicker," said Abe, 66, who fell ill from stress while living in a crowded evacuation shelter in the coastal town of Minami-Sanriku.
Just who is providing accommodation for more than 100,000 evacuees across Japan remains a sore point for several would-be suppliers from the USA, and raises serious questions about Japanese protectionism.
On April 15, Tokyo made a plea for international help with housing. By late May, it had rejected almost all the 322 foreign proposals, from 23 countries, that were listed for consideration.
Like the town's other 9,000 homeless residents, more than half of Minami-Sanriku's surviving population, Abe had to wait until a lottery system allocated her space in the pre-fabricated housing still being assembled here. American Ray Kovitz said his Illinois company could have met needs quickly but they faced a bidding competition he says was rigged against foreign companies.
"We really wanted to help," said Kovitz, director of sales for Heartbilt Homes, one of 25 U.S. bidding companies, who reduced his normal profit margins from 30% down to 8% on 16-person temporary housing units.
"We didn't care if we made money, so we were very disappointed to find that Japan wasn't playing fair," said Kovitz, who also criticizes U.S. government agencies for failing to support U.S. export business in an aggressive manner.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism was overwhelmed by the overseas offers of help that followed the tsunami, especially as most came in English, said Shinji Takami, deputy director of the housing production division.
"We received so many offers, we thought it would cause chaos," so his office set a time limit for formal bids and warned that local authorities would ultimately decide all contracts, Takami said.
And why did they prefer Japanese companies?
"At that time, domestic production of temporary housing was functioning and could meet the needs," said Takami, who voiced concerns that imported U.S. housing materials would require adjustments to gas, water pipes and other amenities.
"So what was the purpose of putting out the request for proposals? It was crazy," said Brian Ellsworth, owner of Idaho-based EKC Construction. Alerted to Japan's call by the Idaho commerce department, Ellsworth spent about $10,000 to assemble his bid and the required Japanese project partners in just five days.
"We never heard anything back from the Japanese government," he said, only learning from blogs that hardly any foreign suppliers succeeded.
"If 200 to 300 foreign companies had done 100 houses each, it could have been a transformation in Japanese business culture to open up and do business with foreign firms," Ellsworth said. "My next car will not be a Toyota."
In Minami-Sanriku, one of Japan's hardest-hit towns, Jun Matsuura, a government housing official, is trying to meet the prime minister's promise to house every evacuee nationwide by mid-August, when families gather for annual prayers for the dead. The deadline has spurred a flurry of construction; Matsuura does not regret the lack of foreign involvement.
"It was important and necessary to order houses domestically, as we want to revitalize the local economy and businesses," he said, though he wished local Minami-Sanriku companies had won more than just the 50 homes they will build of the 2,195 total. The greatest cause of delays has been finding suitable land, away from the coast, in this hilly region, Matsura said.
Japanese orders could have lifted the USA's depressed housing sector, too. Employee numbers at Heartbilt Homes have dropped from 200 four years ago to 30 today, Kovitz said. At EKC Construction, business is down 50% in the past five years, Ellsworth said.
At least one U.S. home provider did win business. Airstream Japan imported 20 U.S.-made trailers, at a price of $39,000 each, for a Japanese non-profit, company representative Nakajima Michiko said. The trailers now support relief efforts by medical staff and other workers.
"They've been really helpful," physical therapist Izawa Kenichi said.
Would it help to have a special set of international trade rules to guide disaster relief efforts?
