Vanishing act by Japanese executive during nuclear crisis raises questions

Source: Washington Post

In normal times, Masataka Shimizu lives in The Tower, a luxury high-rise in the same upscale Tokyo district as the U.S. Embassy. But he hasn’t been there for more than two weeks, according to a doorman.

The Japanese public hasn’t seen much of him recently either. Shimizu, the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, the company that owns a haywire nuclear power plant 150 miles from the capital, is the most invisible — and most reviled — chief executive in Japan.

Amid rumors that Shimizu had fled the country, checked into a hospital or committed suicide, company officials said Monday that their boss had suffered an unspecified “small illness” because of overwork after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake sent a tsunami crashing onto his company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
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Shimizu’s vanishing act “is not so much extremely strange as inexcusable,” said Takeo Nishioka, the chairman of the upper house of Japan’s Diet, or parliament. Speaking to reporters, Nishioka described as “mysterious” Shimizu’s refusal to join the head of the nuclear safety agency at a briefing on the crisis for parliament. “I cannot understand this,” Nishioka fumed.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/vanishing-act-by-japanese-executive-during-nuclear-crisis-raises-questions/2011/03/28/AFDnHNpB_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

Source: Business Insider

His company is in the midst of an existential crisis that may see it go bankrupt or nationalized. So where is TEPCO CEO Masataka Shimizu.

The Washington Post runs a startling report noting that he hasn't been seen in two weeks at his upscale Tokyo apartment, nor is he showing up in public, nor did he join the head of the country's nuclear safety board in front of the Diet.

There are rumors in Japan that he has fled the country or committed suicide, More likely, however, is that he's basically gone into hermitude, not unlike Toyota's CEO during the recent brake pedal controversy.

Politicians are furious, calling his absence inexcusable.

Meanwhile, TEPCO shares have crashed hard for the second straight day as the odds grow that a nationalization will wipe out all the equity.

Washington Post link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/vanishing-act-by-japanese-executive-during-nuclear-crisis-raises-questions/2011/03/28/AFDnHNpB_story.html


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/masataka-shimizu-missing-2011-3

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My gosh - I know committing sepuku (sp? not in dictionary) is not shameful there but to punk out and leave others with this mess is beyond the pale.

He liked to hide out after a fuck-up until the atmosphere was more suitable for him to surface. That's what cowards do, and we ALL know Cheney is the biggest fucking COWARD in America. Birds of a feather.........

...anyone ever consider he may be one of the 17,000+ 'missing' Was he seen after the earthquake at all? The article is very large on sensation and very short on fact.

Surely, you jest! :rofl:

He must be in the elite space station now.

you know, instead of taking responsibility and answering to authorities.

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