Maybe you’ve heard that two members of the original Fukushima 50 who have been working inside the nuclear plant since the day it became damaged have been exposed to amounts of radiation well above the limit that the government set for the emergency workers.
It is for reasons such as this that Mr. Yasuteru Yamada, a 72 year old retired engineer, and a group of other retirees have announced their desire to replace the current younger workers in the damaged nuclear plant.
Yasuteru Yamada
The group consists of retired men with a variety of skills and knowledge that would be helpful in repairing the plant…such as retired engineers, university professors, military, crane operators, construction workers, welders and so on.
Mr. Yamada said that it’s not right for young people still have many years ahead of them, and may have or want to have small children to raise, to risk their lives when he and the other retirees who have decades of related knowledge and experience and have already lived most of their lives are willing and able to do this dangerous work.
I was impressed with their selfless willingness to sacrifice themselves to help others. Most of his group signed up without hesitation as soon as they learned about this group.
“We shouldn’t leave a negative legacy for the next generation.”
— Yasuteru Yamada
Tokyo Five 
This is really a very inspiring story. How many people would be willing to make such a great sacrifice-and that includes the younger generation too. It makes me think of the many men who rushed into the twin towers in NYC to rescue those who were in great danger. It does take a special kind of person who would put their own live on the line in the hope of saving others. We see them in our military, our police force, fire dept or hospitals. So many others are more interested in succeeding in their own careers-not that there is anything wrong with that, but I have much more respect for the men and women who are so giving of themselves. They are real heros, no matter their race, sex or age, and they always inspire others.
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Yeah, everyone knows what must be done but most aren’t willing to actually do it.
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I remember watching a documentation about the men who did this job at tchernobyl. Most of them were middle aged and from the regular staff of the power plant. After they were finished with their job there a lot of them died in the following years and those who managed to survive weren’t able to work because of illness. I think they don’t even get proper compensation nowadays, and that’s just horrible an wrong.
It certainly is a huge commitment and a heroic effort to work inside that nuclear plant, so i just hope that the japanese government will show proper respect to those men and women and that they will take good care of them afterwards. the same goes for tepco!
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>the japanese government will show proper respect to those men
I think everyone would be upset if their efforts were overlooked.
Today, by the way, is the three-month anniversary of the earthquake / tsunami. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before the nuclear plant is under control and the evacuees can return to their homes.
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That’s amazing, they are selfless heroes.
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I know. They are inspiring.
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That word and story moved me.
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Me, too.
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Admirable! I wonder if this sort of thing would happen in any other country.
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Don’t you think it would?
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AWESOME!!! If only we could all be so selfless.
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Yes, they are role models.
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Now they are definitely who I would call HEROES!!!
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I agree. They are heroes just as much as the original “Fukushima 50” are.
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