Yoichi Funabashi
Yoichi Funabashi is a Japanese writer, journalist, and foreign policy expert. He has spent years at the Asahi Shimbun, serving as Editor-in-Chief and Washington Bureau Chief, reporting on world politics, US-Japan relations, and issues across Asia. He founded the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation after the Fukushima disaster, which later became the think tank Asia Pacific Initiative (API). An award-winning author, he is also a member of global advisory councils, including those for popular English-language books such as Meltdown and Alliance Adrift.
Funabashi’s book Meltdown tries to recreate what happened in Fukushima. The author describes his concept as “seizing the truth while it’s hot,” meaning conducting interviews with more than 300 people involved before the memories fade. This results in a raw account that runs counter to any official narrative.
Meltdown is complete with technical jargon. Funabashi successfully recreates dialogue and italicizes internal monologues as his main characters grapple with fear and confusion. Nuclear technicians are thrown into darkness, temperatures rise, manuals are read by torchlight, and a meltdown threatens. At one point, then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan insisted on flying to the nuclear facility by helicopter, even when there was an imminent risk of explosion. Funabashi captures every detail, so we learn that Naoto eats a rice ball on his way back without sanitizing his hands.
At Fukushima, the problem was much bigger. The facility’s backup generators were located deep in the basement, and when the tsunami came, power was knocked out. With no alternative ways to cool the reactor rods, disaster beckoned.
One of Funabashi’s motivations for writing this book was what he terms “the struggle of individuals to overcome the crisis.” The prime minister, Kan, was involved in a campaign funding issue at the time of the catastrophe. Still, Funabashi portrays him as an erratic micromanager seeking to reclaim his leadership by exploiting the Fukushima accident. However, if that was his goal, he failed miserably. In just six months after the disaster, he was gone.
Perhaps the most interesting character in the book is Yoshida himself, who passed away in 2013 of an unrelated cancer. He was a devout Buddhist who led workers who stayed behind, aka the “Fukushima 50.”
But even as a man of excellent skills and qualities, Yoshida was no match for the forces of nature, the forces of physics, or the troubles of a system; despite his defiance, he was just a cog. At one point, he phones the prime minister’s office to explain that he has run out of options. “I’m sorry, we may be finished,” he says.
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- Daniel Ford, author of: Sid Sanford Lives!.
- Laura Golightly, author of: Brave Love.
- Bre Hall, author of: Leave It Buried.
- Diana Greene Foster, author of: The Turnaway Study.
- Jonathan Reisman, author of: The Unseen Body.
Yoichi Funabashi: F.A.Q
What was the first book Yoichi Funabashi wrote?
The first book written by Yoichi Funabashi was Managing the Dollar, published in 1988.
What was the most recent book Yoichi Funabashi wrote?
Their most recently released work was Meltdown on March 2nd, 2021.
Are there upcoming new books by Yoichi Funabashi?
Yoichi Funabashi does not have any upcoming books with a set publication date within the next few months at this time.
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How many books has Yoichi Funabashi written?
Yoichi Funabashi has written 15 books. All of their books are Non-Fiction Books.