Bank run in Tokyo - no more cash left

Empty ATM threatening Tokyo

After the heavy earthquakes and the tsunami pushed Japan to it's limits, the financial sector is plunged into turmoil aswell. Not only have all the stores been emptied, but now most Tokyoites try to withdraw all money from their accounts as long as this is still possible. Impending power cuts threaten to disable all electronic money transfer, as was already the case on Thursday for two hours. According to reports, no hard cash is available in Tokyo anymore since during the recent bank run billions of Dollars have been cashed out. By that, the Japanese might try to preempt a possible rationing of money. On Tuesday, hundreds of ATMs had been shut down already - a fact not vastly covered by the media to prevent this panic spanning into other regions. A nation-wide run on banks could have a devastating effect on Japan's finances. Usually, drastic measures are taken to prevent such events. In other parts of Asia there have been massive bank runs in Febuary causing authorities to temporarily close seven savings banks, blocking all accounts until July. Since then, no further bankruptcies have been announced.

Update on friday, March 18: Mizuho Financial Group, third largest bank in Japan, has 5622 failing ATM in total. technicians try to get them working again in the morning but may consider another delay. The failure was not caused by power outage.