Masao Yoshida

Masao Yoshida was born in Osaka, Japan and was a General Manager in the Nuclear Asset Management Department of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (TEPCO), Japan. He was the plant manager during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, where he played a critical role by disobeying corporate headquarters orders to stop using seawater to cool the reactors. According to nuclear physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, the decision to use seawater arguably prevented a much greater disaster. Without the last ditch effort to use seawater to cool the reactor, a much greater catastrophe that could have contaminated much of northern Japan may have occurred. Yoshida managed to gain the trust of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whom he met the day after the tsunami on a plant tour. They had both attended the Tokyo Institute of Technology.