Shimokobe to become TEPCO chairman

The government has been looking for a replacement for TEPCO Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata since late last year, but apparently no one in the private sector wanted the job....... and..........He also said that he will replace President Toshio Nishizawa, Fuji reported. However, Shimokobe said he will look for Nishizawa’s successor from within the ranks of TEPCO.

TRANSLATION: We had to find someone who was willing to continue the good ole boy program at TEPCO. We could not bring in someone who was going to derail the gravy train by getting rid of the incompetent ex government ministers who are riding it until the last yen of taxpayer money is squandered.

Noda asks old buddy to "lead" TEPCO. Not surprised in the least.

I agree totally with both of the previous post! But I can only see more problems to come... It seems to me that the governments involvement is not helping matters at all. There are just to many HANKOs that need stamping at that level.. Or to many chiefs and not enough Indians.

<>This is such a high ranking position which normally requires stringent procedures...where an independent professional recruitment firm is normally hired to help in identifying appropriate talent and experience, where candidates should appear for inetrviews and the best is selected. The best 5 should appear before a parliament select committee from which, the best is selected. I do not see any difference at the horizon when a hand-picked lawyer, is given a highly technical and high risk job. Where does he start from?

So, what's he going to do to plug those three open pits of radiation spewing out all over the place?

Yup, only in Japan would a 64 year-old lawyer be seen as the solution to a horrendous situation that will drain national resources for decades and desperately needs strong, dynamic leadership and fresh thinking.

So this ojisan got an amakudari into the lead position of the most ethically and socially irresponsible company in Japan? Go figure that he's a lawyer. Wonder if he has any management experience at all, let alone knowledge on how nuclear power works. Japan, Japan... Your goverment... My condolences...

Is TEPCO already nationalized? Why did Noda appoint this guy to be the TEPCO chairman?

Why is the government appointing people???

So, they are bringing in an outsider??? and he will be replacing the head of the turkey, and this classes as news in Japan. I have been out of southern Miyagi for a couple of months now and it sounds like things have not improved - they are trying to shrink the evacuation zone, while there are reports of new leaks, mysterious black powder on the streets in some of the towns just outside. Tokyo has had at least 2 waves of high radiation flow over it - where are TEPGOvt talking about that?.

Random samples of earth taken back to the US by Arnie Gunderson were tested recently and would be classed as nuclear waste in the US - where are TEPGOvt talking about that?

The spent fuel pools on top of reactors, 3 and 4 contain enough irradiated fuel to make a good part of the country uninhabitable if the water drains from the damaged containers - very real problem that even prompted a senior Japanese diplomat, ex ambassador to Switzerland to send a letter to Ban Ki Moon about his fears for a global catastrophe http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/04/682.html - where are TEPGOvt talking about that?

The disgraceful situation has been brought in front of the people of the US, Senator Ron Wyden after his tour of the plant decried the incredibly weak defences against another tsunami, a few backs of rocks and raised the spent fuel pools issue, these pools have no back up pumping systems, they are listing, will crack in a M7 earthquake, would potentially release 85 times the amount of Chernobyls cesium - where are TEPGOvt talking about that?

I hope, pray that this change will be a real one, but we have been shafted so many times that I doubt that - all the while TEPGOvt keep telling us it is safe and we will be able to return to decontaminated areas soon.

Good luck Shimokobe-san