Visible Failure Archives - understand-culture

Monju

On December 8, 1995, metallic sodium leaked from the secondary cooling system of Monju, the fast breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, and caught fire. According to the magazine Gendai, its operator at the time, Dōnen, made false reports and repeatedly tried to conceal what had happened. Monju restarted in May 2010. In August of the same year, a device used in fuel handling fell inside the reactor, and Monju stopped again.

In December 2016, a meeting of the ministers responsible for nuclear energy decided that Monju would not restart and would be decommissioned. More than one trillion yen had been spent on it. According to nippon.com, it had operated on only 250 days in 22 years.

Five Reflections

The Gosei , five reflections, are questions for self-examination from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in Etajima. The first reads: Shisei ni motoru nakarishi ka . Have I not gone against utmost sincerity? The others ask whether one has been ashamed of one’s words and deeds, lacked spirit, regretted one’s effort, or been lazy.

The questions were devised by the academy’s superintendent, Matsushita Hajime. The tradition passed on to the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

Cutting Off the Lizard’s Tail

Tokage no shippo kiri (トカゲの尻尾切り): cutting off the lizard’s tail. The Japanese dictionary site DiQt defines it as sacrificing a person in a weaker position to escape a crisis or a demand for accountability. In an organization, it means pushing the responsibility for a problem onto a person at the bottom or onto a lower department.

Medical Accident Investigations

Since October 2015, Japanese hospitals have investigated medical accidents under the iryō jiko chōsa seido, the medical accident investigation system. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare says the system aims to prevent recurrence and secure the safety of medical care. A national support center collects and analyzes the hospitals’ investigations.

Fukushima Prefecture’s guide to the system adds that it is “not intended to pursue the responsibility of individuals.”

Yamba Dam

Surveys for the Yamba Dam began in 1952. In September 2009, after a change of government, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Maehara Seiji said that work on the main structure would be halted.

On December 22, 2011, a meeting of the ministry’s political leaders decided to continue the project. The dam was completed in March 2020 and began operating in April 2020, 68 years after the surveys began.

The decision to stop was itself reversed. The project went on to completion.

Persisting After Failure

In a study published in 2001, the psychologist Steven Heine and colleagues told Japanese participants that they had done well or poorly on a task. On a second task, those who had been told they failed persisted longer than those who had been told they succeeded.

The authors described this as a self-improving pattern.

Hidden Recalls

In 2000, it became known that Mitsubishi Motors had hidden defect reports from customers and repaired vehicles in secret.

On January 10, 2002, a wheel came off a Mitsubishi truck in Yokohama and struck a mother and her two children. The mother, 29, died. The company blamed poor maintenance. In March 2004, it withdrew that explanation and announced a recall. In April 2004, police arrested seven former top executives of Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso.

The Vocabulary of Reflection

Hansei (反省): reflection on one’s own conduct, with regret for what went wrong.

Hanseikai (反省会): a reflection meeting, held after an event or project to review it.

Nanakorobi yaoki (七転び八起き): fall seven times, rise eight. Recovering each time, however many failures come.

Yamaichi’s Last Press Conference

On November 24, 1997, the president of Yamaichi Securities, Nozawa Shōhei, faced reporters at the Tokyo Stock Exchange as the firm announced it would close. In tears, he apologized and said: Shain wa waruku arimasen kara! The employees are not to blame!

Accounts of his exact words differ. Another version has him say: “We are the ones at fault, so the employees are not to blame.”

JAL President Resigns

On August 14, 1985, two days after the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, JAL president Takagi Yasumoto announced that he would resign.

In October 1985, a secretary to Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro wrote in a memo that it was not acceptable for Takagi alone to take responsibility for the accident and leave it at that.