Yuck. That is some crappy news indeed. Sony might have to get lean and hungry like some of their competitors in order to get through this. No mention of the Alpha brand in that write-up, though I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news.
What I read yesterday was those plants make cell phones. video recorder parts and smart cards. the smart card plant was part of the media division that was closing up anyway and the other 2 were planned to be absorbed into their non japanese facilitues. these plants I think only served the japanese market