I am so excited to be here at such a wonderful event as this
and talk to you all.
This picture shows our press conference held on March 19
right after we finished filling
the parched fuel rod storage pool of Reactor 3
of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant with tons of water
after working without a stop.
Please raise your hand if you've seen this photo before.
Great!
Some of you might not have seen it,
but it's up on YouTube so that you can check it out later.
(Laughter)
This press conference was held immediately after we got back from Fukushima,
so I didn't even have time to shave.
But I had enough time to get a clean shave before coming here today.
(Laughter)
Today, I want to invite you into the world of fire fighting
as I talk about our mission in Fukushima that we experienced.
But as my time here is limited, I would like to ask those on the stage
to wear the helmets of the Tokyo Fire Department
to participate in this experience together with us.
(Applause)
Thanks for your cooperation.
The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred at 14:46 on March 11th.
It was the fourth largest megaquake in history of magnitude over 9.
The tsunami waves were over 10 meters high.
The scale can only be expected to happen once in 1,000 years.
10,000 people died and over 5,000 people are still missing.
I pray for the souls of those who perished in this calamity,
and my heart goes out to those who are afflicted by it.
Very few people realize
that this megaquake also inflicted damage in Tokyo.
The earthquake in Tokyo triggered by it
was level 5 intensity on the Japanese scale,
and over 34 cases of fire spread were reported at the same time.
Being in charge of fighting fires in Tokyo,
I wanted to take care of fires in Tokyo first as quickly as possible
to send out the emergency rescue teams
to the Tohoku region where a lot of help was needed.
That was all I thought about.
Then, to our shock, as you know the reactor 1
of the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant exploded on the morning of the 12th.
We couldn't believe it because we had been told
that the plant would survive even a plane crash into it.
Then on the 14th, there was another explosion in Reactor 3.
As you all know, there are 6 nuclear reactors at the plant,
and Reactors 1 to 4 of all 6 exploded one after another.
We learned that the loss in power of the cooling infrastructure
caused lowering the cooling water levels in the reactors.
Since nuclear disasters are normally handled
by the central government as they are state secrets,
the Self Defense Force sent out two helicopters
to pour water into them from above.
But the level of radiation was so high
that they were unable to get close enough to complete their mission.
The police departments also sent in their water cannon truck,
and tried to pour water into the fuel tank but this didn't work well either.
Although the Tokyo Fire Department is responsible basically only for Tokyo,
and not for the nuclear power plants,
we thought that we might get summoned for help
as we are the experts in firefighting and water pumping.
So this was the time when we decided to start our research
about how to handle this kind of case.
The Tokyo Fire Department has 81 fire stations.
Every fire station has rescue units.
The most highly trained men recruited from these units
were organized into 4 hyper rescue units,
and positioned in 4 of the 10 district headquarters.
We learned from the experience in the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995
that dispatching them is crucial at the time of disaster.
Out of the 4 units, one unit had been already dispatched
to Kesennuma in the Tohoku region.
So there were 3 units left, then.
Although nuclear power plants are not included in our responsibilities,
as countermeasures for, for example,
a radiation leak accident at a laboratory or a nuclear terrorist attack,
we had already been training ourselves
to get ready for handling radiation disasters,
by making our own standards and equipments.
This chart shows those standards.
The maximum allowed radiation exposure at one time should be 30 millisievert.
But it could be raised up to 100 millisievert
when we need to save lives of people.
However we would never send out that rescue worker
to handle another nuclear case in the rest of his firefighting career.
Evaluating with experts in the nuclear field,
we set the upper limit of radiation level we could tolerate.
We were supposed to work within 2 km of the plant.
If the men are exposed to radiation at the upper limit of 100 millisievert,
they would be overexposed on their way back,
so we decided to set the upper limit at 80 millisievert.
Now the so-called protective wear that is shown in the upper right corner
is, from my perspective, not really protective.
It is "dust-proof."
It may protect us from dust contaminated by radiation
but not from radiation itself;
radiation penetrates through it as if we were in a microwave oven.
So what was crucial was to control the amount of time of radiation exposure.
By March 15th and 16th, we knew that cooling the fuel rods
was the immediate target that we had to aim for.
The whole nation must have worried
as to how the reactors would be cooled down.
On March 17th, I gathered all the hyper rescue units in Tokyo.
And we walked through 3 strategic operations
to figure out what we should be doing
in order to minimize the amount of exposure with minimum resources.
It was still cold in Fukushima with snow scattering.
Because the plant is facing the sea, winds were strong.
So we looked into how winds would impact our operations.
What I was most concerned about was not the fact
that all the hyper rescue units would be leaving Tokyo.
I understood it because this was a national crisis.
My concern was that the radiation levels at the scene were already 400 mSv
and they were increasing at the rate of 100 mSv a day.
So, we worried that by the time we arrived,
it would be about 600 mSv per hour.
This means that we could only work there for 10 minutes at one time.
So my suggestion was to gather the hyper rescue teams
from the 81 fire stations,
and for my members to instruct them on how to carry out the operation.
But all the captains said,
"Let us do it. We will be there on the front line."
I said to them, "But you have men too young for this job."
But they all said, "We will go ourselves.
We all have been trained for a day like this,
and we have good teamwork."
I really had a hard time making the decision.
I eventually decided to take the hyper rescue teams.
I let the members to go back to their own stations.
At 0:50 a.m. that night, to my surprise,
we received an operation order from the Prime Minister.
I wanted to have more time to evaluate the situation
to minimize the damage that might be inflicted on my teams,
but we ran out of time.
I gave the members an order to come in at 2 a.m..
We conducted a takeoff-ceremony, and arrived at Fukushima by 8 a.m..
This is a picture taken just after Reactor 3 exploded.
Our strategy was to set a super pumper where the arrow on the left is pointing,
and set up a water tower truck with the elevating squirt
beside Reactor 3 of which you see the smoke is coming out.
We would connect the hose and set the nozzle
at the proper angle beforehand.
Then we would extend a hose of 150mm in diameter by car along that blue line,
because that is the shortest route.
Once we connect those hoses,
our mission would be complete.
I estimated that we could complete this whole process within 7 minutes.
I had a meeting
with Tokyo Electric Power Company and the Government,
and the Tokyo Fire Department asked us to start at 5 p.m..
We got ourselves ready at J-Village, the command center,
20 kilometers from the nuclear power plant and headed out from the place.
While I waited at J-Village,
since the location of the plant can't be reached
by either mobile phone or fire radio, or satellite phone,
I couldn't do anything but waiting there after sending them off.
After 5 p.m., the Government kept calling me to ask about the progress.
"What is going on?" "Has the mission been completed?"
I said to them, "I have no idea,"
but they kept on asking.
When my teams came back, they said to me,
"The situation was worse than expected."
The captain came back past 7 p.m..
I asked him, "Was the operation successful?"
He said, "No, we couldn't even have a chance to pump out water."
I said, "You were exposed to radiation for nothing?"
I felt desperate.
He said, "No. Only our recon team entered.
It took time because they examined the area to figure out
where to position the pump and how to spread out the hoses.
Our main mission team remained outside the gate."
I said, "So, we have one more chance, don't we?"
But they had to extend the hose for 800 meters.
The place marked in red here
was covered with the rubble and outdoor tanks
so a car could not enter there.
They had to carry the hose by hand.
I thought "These hoses are too big and heavy
for people to drag and extend. It has never been done before.
To make matters worse,
it is pitch black out there with high levels of radiation.
Our men could be exposed to even more unexpected dangers."
But I didn't have any hesitation to give them the go-ahead.
I had no choice but to do it.
We couldn't afford to retreat and restart with a different strategy
because the level of radiation there was getting higher and higher.
The last option I was left with was to secure my teams' safety.
We all planned as best we could.
We decided to split the teams into two
and have each team extend hoses from both the nozzle and the water truck.
Furthermore we added a bus at each side because we needed a lot of people
who stood by to take turns in order to execute the mission.
I said to the members,
"As soon as your geiger count shows the level of 80 mSv,
you should leave your equipments behind and return to the bus,
and then the next team would go and take over the job."
After I explained this strategy to them, we moved on to execute the second plan.
Today, I wanted to demonstrate
how a 150mm hose is extended.
but the Tokyo Fire Department didn't let me do it
because it's not something that is done by hand,
and asked me to show the picture instead.
The hose I am using to explain to the Governor of Tokyo in this slide
is just one-tenth of the whole thing.
But the real hose is 50 meters long, 100 kg each.
They had to extend more than 7 hoses like this in the dark.
Our second operation started.
Because we discussed for three and half hours,
it started after 11 p.m..
This is the picture when we had a meeting at the gate.
And this is the water tower truck with the elevating squirt,
which can pump out 38,000 liters of water per minute.
This is how they tried to extend them, then.
Now, I have a surprise for you.
Captain Takayama, please come over here.
This is Captain Takayama Yukio.
He can explain better
because he is the one who led the men on the front line.
(Applause)
Captain Takayama,
what was the hardest thing at that time for you?
Takayama: As you said, it was tough to execute the mission
while securing the safety of our men at the same time.
It was obviously dangerous, but we couldn't run away.
Maintaining this balance of executing the mission
and keeping my men's safety was very tough for me.
Yasuo Sato: How did you know the pumping of water was successful
when you finished at 00:30 a.m.?
Takayama: After I gave the order to start pumping water,
the moment I saw water gushing out of the hose,
it looked as if it were from heaven: the water from God.
We all felt full of excitement, and thrusted our fists into the air.
YS: In fact I wanted all three of us at this press conference
to be on this stage today as a special surprise for you.
(Applause)
However, Captain Tomioka, on the left side of the picture,
he is now in Spain.
Prince of Asturias in Spain gave us Prince of Asturias Concord Prize
for our brave achievement, so Captain Tomioka went there
to attend the ceremony yesterday.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
Since I couldn't bring all three of us, I have prepared another special surprise.
Please, come in.
(Applause)
I have just told you that we extended 100-kg hose in the dark.
This outfit is 25-kg itself.
So the firefighters had to extend a 100-kg hose in this 25-kg outfit.
Thank you for this trouble.
You can take off your mask.
Let me introduce to you,
our firefighter, Kei Mishima.
(Applause)
Thank you.
You should wait to applause till you hear this story, though.
(Laughter)
He is the man who manipulated
the water tower truck with the elevating squirt at Reator 3.
(Applause)
He operated it in the dark, pouring water 50 meters away and 30 meters high.
(Applause)
He had a 1-year-old daughter this March.
And another daughter was newly born on September 22nd.
That means when he was assigned to the mission in March,
he had an infant child, and his wife was expecting the second child.
Despite this fact, he decided to go.
His spirit as a firefighter really moved me.
(Applause)
As I said, we are well-equipped
and well-trained; we closely share information.
But these are not the only factors
that help us to be brave enough to go into such life-and-death situations.
As I have just mentioned the family of Mr. Mishima,
it is our family love that matters and supports us most.
When I told my wife that the project had been successfully off the ground,
Her response, as some of you might have heard in the press conference,
was an email from her, saying,
"Please be a savior of Japan."
This empowered me and gave me the support I needed.
It has been 60 years
since the Tokyo Fire Department was established.
It was the first time in its history
that the guard manager rushed to the scene as the chief commander.
It will probably never happen again.
So, why did I go?
As this is not a press conference now I can be honest with you.
I didn't go there to take command of the team.
The Fire Commissioner and I discussed it, and I decided to go.
Captain Takayama is better at taking command than I am.
My first purpose to go there was to secure the safety of our men.
The second purpose was to make final decisions
in a rapidly change situation that could be fatal any time.
And the third was
to take responsibility.
The situation was so severe
that I thought that half of them would not be able to return home.
I am so happy to have been able to send every one of them home to their families.
(Applause)
This mission in Fukushima was just one example
of our operations in firefighting.
During the disaster of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake,
over 27,000 emergency response fire teams from all over Japan,
and over 100,000 of emergency rescue team members
rushed to the afflicted Tohoku areas.
And we received offers of aid
from 197 different countries, regions and institutions all over the world.
Having been through disasters, I keenly feel
that the development of civilization and culture
has been made possible by the ties between people.
Now, the Tohoku region is doing its best in the process of recovery,
and everybody is working together to overcome the hardship.
Will you support them hand in hand, too?
(Applause)
I believe that the human race has been developing,
overcoming various difficult phases with these human ties,
and I believe we can recover from this disaster
as long as we get together.
Let's all hang in there!
Although it was a short time,
thank you for joining us in the world of firefighters.
(Applause)
Thank you, Mr. Sato.
(Applause)
Host: Since Mr. Mishima is here, let's ask him some questions.
How did you feel when you heard
that an operation order came from the Prime Minister?
I imagine various thoughts crossed your mind.
Will you tell us about what you thought then?
Mishima: To be honest, I hadn't thought that I wouldn't have a chance to go there
when I first saw the news of the nuclear plant on TV.
When I learned that I was going, I had mixed feelings of fear
and a sense of responsibility that we had to succeed in this
even more so because it's something nobody else had ever experienced before.
However, honestly, I didn't know what to do.
Host: How did you tell your family?
I assume that the rest of your family felt the same as you did.
Mishima: Well, all I knew about nuclear accident was Chernobyl
and the further horrible cases of the atomic bombs
at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As mentioned before, my wife was in the early stages of pregnancy,
and I didn't want her to lose our baby.
I couldn't trust myself to call her and so sent her a casual sounding e-mail
as if I were heading for a pub for a couple of beer,
like, "I need to go, because we got an order from the Prime Minister."
And everybody responded, saying,
"Go! That's such a prestigious order."
I received an email from my wife, saying,
"You're a firefighter, so do your bit."
Sounds a bit bossy, doesn't it? (Laughter)
In reality it actually was a really supportive push.
But when I was really focusing on the mission ahead in pitch black,
my wife sent me an email, saying "I am heading to bed," (Laughter)
which was kind of sad.
(Applause)
Host: Could you send out a message to the 260 of great minds here,
and to the people watching this over the Internet?
Mishima: Honestly, I was delighted with the success of the mission.
I believe that we got over the worst part of the crisis.
But unfortunately the situation hasn't settled down yet,
and there are workers still working in dangerous situations as of today.
The people affected by the tsunami are quite far from full recovery,
so I can't feel happiness to the fullest.
But when the afflicted people tell me,
"Good work! You've given us the courage to take a step forward."
That is the moment that I feel that our mission was successful.
And one more thing.
Firefighters are not heroes.
We aren't invincible.
When I came home and held my daughter, and saw my newborn baby,
they made me realize how happy I was to have made it home.
Excuse me...
(Applause)
I think that you can't protect others unless you can protect yourself.
That's what Captain Takayama says too.
But, if I see people calling for help
I will do my best to help them even though it's way out of my ability,
so that they can appreciate being back home just as I did.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
Mr.Sato, Mr.Mishima and Mr.Takayama, thank you very much.
(Applause)