The Asahi Shimbun's Series Prometheus Trap #4

PROMETHEUS TRAP (4): U.S. official sought 'heroic sacrifice' from Japan 2/4/2013

Editor's note: This is the fourth part of a series that has run in the past under the overall title of The Prometheus Trap. This series deals with the differences between Japan and the United States in dealing with the Fukushima nuclear accident of 2011 following the Great East Japan Earthquake

# 3 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201302010004 

#2 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201301300006

#1 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201301280006

FROM #4

[Excerpted] At 9 a.m. on March 16, 2011, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, invited Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki into his office in Washington, D.C... 

Not only did he say that the Japanese government had to make every effort to respond to the situation, but he added that the government also had to make decisions. He said the accident was not an issue for Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, but for the nation of Japan.

Campbell went on to say that the Fukushima plant was in a very dangerous state and that immediate action was necessary. One phrase that caught the attention of embassy officials was "heroic sacrifice." Campbell said such sacrifice was necessary by the several hundreds of workers who would have to go in while realizing what dangers were in store for them at the Fukushima plant....