This essay, dated March 10, 2019, sharply denounces Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s abnormal pattern of intervention in the response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident and exposes the essence of the failures driven from the Prime Minister’s Office.
It portrays how a leader trapped in destructive micromanagement fixated on trivial details rather than professional judgment, thereby throwing crisis management into confusion, and explicitly concludes that this was a man-made disaster.

2019-03-10
A half-informed man, unaware of his own limits and deficiencies, tried to control everything, and inevitably committed many blunders.
That was likely the essence of the Kantei’s handling of the accident.
This was a man-made disaster caused by Mr. Kan.

What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The source of reputational damage.
According also to the private-sector accident investigation commission’s report, when it became known that the diesel generator, the emergency power source at Fukushima Daiichi, had broken down and replacement batteries were needed, Mr. Kan behaved in a bizarre manner.
Using his own mobile phone, he directly asked the person in charge questions such as, “What size is it?” “How many meters in height and width?” “How much does it weigh?” and eagerly took notes.
According to a government official, whereas an ordinary politician would first think, “What should be done about this situation?”, Mr. Kan displayed an abnormal concern with “Why did the diesel generator break down?”, and discussion failed to progress smoothly.
At the time, one National Police Agency official set out four types of supreme commander: 1) capable and active, 2) incapable and inactive, 3) capable and inactive, and 4) incapable and active, and declared the following.
“You already know which type Prime Minister Kan belongs to.
He is the worst type, incapable yet trying to do what he cannot do, the incapable-but-active type.
That is the most troublesome kind of all.”
Here we have a textbook case of vicious micromanagement, in which, despite being incompetent, he was eager to overcontrol and interfere in the work of his subordinates.
A half-informed man, unaware of his own limits and deficiencies, tried to control everything, and inevitably committed many blunders.
That was likely the essence of the Kantei’s handling of the accident.
This was a man-made disaster caused by Mr. Kan.
To be continued.