Zero Hedge...We got a very sad reminder of the true Japanese tragedy (because deflation is only "horrible" if you live outside your means) earlier when we read that Masao Yoshida, the plant manager who led the fight to bring Japan's Fukushima atomic station under control during the 2011 nuclear disaster, has died from esophageal cancer. He was 58. He died on July 9 at a hospital in Tokyo, according to a statement from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
Bloomberg covers Yoshida's story:
Yoshida, an engineer by training, directed workers to stop the reactors from overheating after Japan's strongest earthquake on record and an ensuing tsunami hit the plant on March 11, 2011, causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He stayed at the plant, helming the disaster response for almost nine months.
"I can not imagine how hard it was for him," Tatsujiro Suzuki, vice-chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, said in an interview. "He had to make a decision that most of the on-site workers should leave because the situation was getting worse and he also had to have some of his staff remain to work with him. That was probably the hardest decision he ever had to make."
Yoshida stepped down from his post on Dec. 1, 2011 after having been hospitalized a few days earlier for an unspecified illness. Officials from Tepco disclosed Yoshida's cancer eight days later.
