With Thailand's worst floods in 50 years surrounding the center of Bangkok, economists are warning that the protracted crisis may hurt Japan's economy, which had just started to show signs of recovering from the March 11 disasters.
As alarm over the flooding grew Thursday, Toyota Motor Corp. announced it will extend the shutdown of its three assembly plants in Thailand by another week to Nov. 5, and also prolong production curbs in Japan, as well as in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Facing a potential shortage of parts, Japanese carmakers and high-tech companies have already curbed production in Thailand and some neighboring nations — and even in Japan.