Fukushima, JAPAN- In January 2013, following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, TEPCO set up the Fukushima Revitalization Headquarters at J-Village football fields in the town of Hirono. Their mission was to carry out recovery operations including the handling of residents' compensation and land decontamination as swiftly as possible closer to the frontlines of the accident (the headquarters have since moved to Tomioka Town). Yoshiyuki Ishizaki took on the role of the operation's first representative, and will be retiring tomorrow on June 23.

 I had come across Ishizaki numerous times in various places while covering Fukushima, and had been interested in talking to him before he left his position. I believe it necessary to see with your own eyes and talk to people in person to be able to genuinely understand what is going on. There are things you will never understand without doing so. The fact that I met Ishizaki everywhere suggested that he took on this hands-on approach. Despite his position as the representative of the Revitalization Headquarters, as well as Executive Vice President of TEPCO, watching him actively scramble about the prefecture made me feel that he was genuinely committed to the recovery of Fukushima.

 In July 2015, I accompanied the members of Fukko-Hamadan, the group based in Minami-Soma, on one of their Fukushima Daiichi observation tours. After touring the facility under the guide of Ishizaki, there was an opportunity to question him in person. "The fact is, lives were lost due to the nuclear accident. Does TEPCO still consider nuclear power plants a necessity?" Considering his responsibilities at the company, I asked this question expecting him to just beat around the bush. But after apologizing once again for the loss of lives, he clearly stated, "I think nuclear power plants are necessary at the moment", and explained why. I was not satisfied with his answer nor the explanation that followed, and imagine many others would want to counter his argument as well. But I am sure he was speaking from his heart. Although we all have differing opinions, dialogue remains the only way to build a society. It is useless when one party is not speaking candidly, and I have seen, especially in the recent days, a fair share of those who lack sincerity and whose idea is to only save their own skin. But I felt that Ishizaki, at least, was a TEPCO executive that could hold a truthful dialogue.

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 At the time of the accident, Ishizaki's job at TEPCO's Tokyo head office was to maintain relations between the company and the communities where its power plants were located. After busily sending out relief supplies to two hundred or so emergency shelters, he then spent many days visiting the evacuation shelters apologizing to the residents along with the company president. There were 165 thousand evacuees in the evacuation zone alone. Upon seeing the number of people and the squalid conditions they were living in, Ishizaki firmly realized the sever effect of the accident. There were familiar faces among the people he visited to dogeza, bowing his head so deeply that it touched the ground, the traditional Japanese way to express the deepest of apologies. Many of them were acquaintances from his tenure as director of Fukushima Daini Nuclear Station (2F) for three years until 2010. He was met with outrage and hatred. "You. You said that it was absolutely safe!" "You're a minion of the world's worst polluting company!" Nuclear plants are absolutely safe. That was what Ishizaki was taught and what he came to believe, and with conviction, was what he had continually assured the residents around the plant while he was director at 2F. For thirty years, Ishizaki took pride in the job of supporting the country by providing electricity. What was all that worth now? The mutual relationship and trust that had been built between the plant and the residents of Hamadori, the coastal area of Fukushima, was destroyed in the blink of an eye. Ishizaki resolved to confront the accident for the rest of his life thinking, "If I were to run and abandon these people, I will go to hell".

 During those days in 2012, plans got underway at TEPCO to establish a division within Fukushima prefecture to speed up recovery efforts. Ishizaki, who had become managing director in June, took part in the preparations. When the division's launch was finalized in January 2013, he was appointed as the representative.

 At first, Ishizaki considered his role a target where the residents could fling their frustration, anger and sorrow. He would go around and listen, and they would tell him how they had once imagined returning home sooner. Tending to the residents' needs, or so called "recovery implementing actions", like mowing the weeds and cleaning up abandoned houses, is one of the main jobs of the Revitalization Headquarters. As time went by, the efforts started to take hold and residents started to express gratitude. Their daily lives settled down and old acquaintances would sometimes reminisce how they shared drinks while Ishizaki was director at 2F.

 Ishizaki made efforts to understand the residents' situations and needs, and what changes were taking place by visiting the sites and meeting people personally. He dropped by all the local events and activities he was aware of and even visited residents who had voluntarily evacuated to faraway Kyushu. When commuting from the company housing in Hirono Town where he lived separated from his family, he would leave the driver along the way to observe the changing environment on foot.

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 When asked about the most memorable episode during the past four and a half years, he talked of Takayuki Ueno from the Fukko-Hamadan. Ueno had lost four family members to the tsunami and was still searching for his father and son. Shortly after Ishizaki had become Representative of the Revitalization Headquarters, Shin Owada, an announcer from Radio Fukushima at the time, had urged Ishizaki to go see Ueno. Without receiving any explanation as to who he was, Ishizaki set out to meet Ueno. In front of the remnants of Ueno's tsunami torn house, the business card Ishizaki handed over was immediately tossed away, and with the "expression of a demon", Ueno shouted "Why show up after all this time!" Ueno's fists were shaking and Ishizaki expected him to start throwing punches. In front of the family alter inside the house built adjacent to old one, Ishizaki bowed deeply in the dogeza custom, and for two hours, listened to the pent-up anger that had been raging inside Ueno. How the police and Self Defense Force had abandoned the search because of the explosion at the nuclear plant. How only Ueno and his friends continued the search and recovered tens of bodies. How his wife, being pregnant at the time, had to evacuate and could not even attend their daughter's funeral.

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 Ishizaki also heard the following story from Ueno. There was one particular TEPCO employee in charge of the Minami Soma area whom Ueno had vented his anger at. After the encounter, the employee surreptitiously began visiting the numerous alters that had been put up around Ueno's Kaihama district, to put his hands together and pray. Ueno's feelings shifted slightly as he silently observed this daily morning ritual. He still despised TEPCO, but he noticed that his hatred was not directed at the individual employees. "You should be grateful that you have such honorable people as employees", he told Ishizaki. As Ishizaki was about to leave, Ueno added, "I will never forgive TEPCO. I will be watching you from now on, all the time." Those words have been on Ishizaki's mind ever since.

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 Ishizaki's candid manner during the observation tour also made Ueno view him differently. Other people like Norio Kimura from Okuma, whose efforts to find his family after the tsunami were drastically hindered by the nuclear accident, was also present. After the tour, Ueno commented without hiding his astonishment "Considering his position, I'm surprised he said that." He viewed Ishizaki as "an honest person", and felt he could be trusted. The relationship has solidified enough for Ueno to call Ishizaki directly to discuss matters, and for TEPCO employees to help out at events like the flower maze and firework displays organized by Fukko-Hamadan.

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