Table of Contents

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Fukushima Disaster Response Timeline

Principal Figures in the Fukushima Disaster Response

1. Station Blackout

2. A State of Nuclear Emergency Declared

3. Hydrogen Explosion

4. Pumping in Seawater

5. The Day of Reckoning

6. Integrated Response Office

7. Resident Evacuation

8. The Last Bastion

9. The Hyper Rescue Squad

10. Operation Tomodachi (Friends)

11. Yokosuka Shock

12. The Hosono Process

13. Worst-Case Scenario

14. SPEEDI

15. Planned Evacuation Area

16. Castle Lost in a Day

Epilogue: “The Mercy of the Gods”

Notes

Interviewee List

Index

About the Author

Yoichi Funabashi is chairman of Asia Pacific Initiative (AP Initiative), a Tokyo-based think tank that includes the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation (RJIF) as one of its research programs. He was former editor-in-chief of Asahi Shimbun, Japan's foremost newspaper, and his previous books include The Peninsula Question and Managing the Dollar.

Reviews

A masterful reconstruction of one of the most dangerous episodes of the nuclear age. Drawing on his unparalleled access to the key actors in both Tokyo and Washington, Funabashi offers a meticulous case study of the do's and don'ts of crisis management, providing invaluable insights for future decisionmakers."- James B. Steinberg, University Professor, Social Science, International Affairs and Law, Syracuse University;

"This meticulously researched book captures the quiet heroism of TEPCO engineers working to vent the Fukushima reactors mid-meltdown, the elite panic clearly visible among Japanese government representatives, and hard-to-believe moments of pathos and bureaucratic red tape. Readers will be floored to see the confusion about evacuation orders, contradictory mandates from the Japanese prime minister's office to on-site personnel at the plant, and the blinding 'fog of war' that came with the parallel disasters and a bureaucratic silo mentality that permeated all aspects of this crisis."- Daniel P. Aldrich, author of Black Wave and Building Resilience, and professor, Northeastern University;

"A meticulous account of Japan's nuclear disaster that stands against any smooth official narrative."- David Pilling, Financial Times;

"This is an absolutely gripping account of the greatest disaster in Japan's post-war history. It explains the collective failure of multiple engineering, political, and bureaucratic systems and the selfless heroism of scores of officials, technicians, and men and women in uniform who saved Japan."- Michael J. Green, Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies;

"Dr. Funabashi is the eminent authority on what really happened at Fukushima, as evidenced in his historic and objective report. There is no more accurate reprisal of what has happened over the last decade than this stunning book. It is a must-read to ensure it never happens again. There simply is no one better to bring these issues to account."- Adm. (Ret.) Mike Mullen, U.S. Navy, 17th Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff