Who are the Fukushima 50?

This is a true story. This is not my story but perhaps mine to tell. This is the story of fifty brave men... "The Fukushima 50" are fifty Japanese nuclear workers, among them retirees, who volunteered to stay behind at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant to prevent a nuclear meltdown and prevent a global catastrophe after their country was rocked by two natural disasters; an earthquake and a tsunami.Before the crisis, they were seen as ordinary nuclear plant workers with normal careers, but their selflessness and love for their families, nation, and the world motivated them to risk their lives and lifelong health to save Japan and possibly the entire Pacific region. These are fathers, brothers, uncles, and neighbors. One woman said on Twitter that her 59-year-old father volunteered to help out at the nuclear site after working for an electric company for four decades and is six months away from retiring. He told his daughter, "The future of the nuclear plant depends on how we resolve this crisis. I feel it's my mission to help." Many hail them as heroes and see them as the modern embodiment of Japan's old Samurai caste. The Samurai were expected to sacrifice everything for the sake of their mission or lord, even if it meant dying in the process. Ignoring the threat of death, the Samurai would rush into battle, and in the same way, the Fukushima 50 rushed to volunteer and stay behind to avert catastrophe, even if it meant a slow and painful death from radiation poisoning. On one hand, the 50, who have since been joined by 150 others, are all that's right in the world, true symbols of selflessness and sacrifice for the greater good. On the other, they're also sad reminders of the horror Japan's recent tsunami wrought—five of the men are already presumed dead, and others have said they're certain the radiation will kill them eventually. The men's brief messages home have been chilling in their beautiful simplicity and frankness: "Please continue to live well," one of the 50 wrote in an e-mail to his wife. "I cannot come home for a while." Courage!