Managing Director Akio Komori of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the company that manages the more or less totally Fuk-ed Fukushima nuclear plant in northern japan, wept as he left a press conference today. During that press conference, he conceded that the ongoing radiation leaks were serious enough to cause injury or death to those in the highest area of danger, closest to the damaged plant.
Some will observe this moment as a genuine display of human grief. Others, including some folks in Japan via Twitter, have expressed anger: TEPCO is responsible for the disaster, the logic goes; they’ve been less than forthcoming as it unfolded, the situation grows more dangerous each day the crisis remains unresolved, and he might save the tears for after they have fixed it. What’s more, thanks to documents leaked by Wikileaks, we now know that TEPCO has a history of mendacious, profit-seeking and safety-risking corporate conduct.
I have added him to the Ultimate Cavalcade of Sad Guys.