(freshrant.com) Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan, is also known by the press as 'Ira-Kan' or 'Fretful-Kan', just two of the nicknames they have used when referring to his well-known short temper. Kan got his dander up again this week when he demanded, "What the hell is going on?" with the Tokyo Electric Power Company and its failed efforts to cool down the doomed Fukushima Nuclear Plant.
Such public displays of anger are uncommon by Japanese public officials. The wrath of Kan not only appears to be well warranted but also a convenient way to use his public image to deflect growing criticism of the incompetent, confusing, vague and often overly optimistic happy talk that typified the first two weeks of his own government's announcements about the Fukushima disaster.
Kan expressed his frustration with TEPCO, Japan's largest public utility as it watched its share price drop more than 80% since the tsunami hit its Fukushima plant. But Kan's anger is understandable considering the lack of visible leadership from TEPCO president, Masataka Shimizu, who was reportedly hospitalized for high blood pressure after rumors abounded that he may have left the country. Surely, high blood pressure is the least of the worries for the workers who are engaged in what appears to be a desperate, if not losing battle, to cool the plant.