How is it, Mizukami?
Mizukami, respond!
What's going on!
A white bird...
Mizukami!
Higashikuni Chemical Co. - Head Office
I would now like to begin the Accident Investigation Committee
First Meeting - Accident Investigation Committee
for the explosion that occurred at our Higashikuni Chemical Plant No. 1.
I am truly honored to have such distinguished professors as yourselves gathered here....
Don't bother about that kind of thing.
Then, let's begin with your self-introductions...
That's a waste of time.
I beg your pardon, Professor.
Hey, Tomo-kun, I can't see. Lift it up some more.
Come on, turn around.
You are all well-known people.
There's no need to introduce yourselves.
Professor Amano, if you could make your way here,
we can wait for you.
Don't mind me. Please go ahead.
No, they do mind.
Let's continue.
Eh... The outline of the accident is described in the handouts.
As for the damage, 40% of the factory was destroyed by fire.
Several neighboring companies in the industrial park suffered tremendous damage.
Furthermore, one of our workers was killed.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown.
Was this an unavoidable accident caused by a natural disaster?
Or was it a human error caused by a worker's mistake?
Let's all do our best to help the deceased be put to rest.
However, in the case of explosion accidents, there are almost no clues left behind.
But there are exceptions.
Exceptions?
Fortunately or unfortunately, this accident happened during a heavy rainstorm.
Thanks to that, it is quite possible that clues may have not been burned.
Professor Amano, you have been active overseas for a long time,
and a world-renowned doctor of engineering for research on new industrial robots and self-driving cars.
I know it's a bit of a stretch to say this,
but I think that a hypothesis that is too convenient would only confuse the investigation.
It is not a hypothesis.
Tokyo Daichi University, Faculty of Engineering Professor Amano Manako
It is a fact that is right in front of us.
Tomo-kun,
if you want to put the deceased to rest,
you should become a monk.
Without any pretense
Without conjecture
Without reward
A third-party investigation of the truth, free from all ties.
That is the mission of the Accident Investigation Committee.
Drama 10
File 1 - Manako, Explosion
Manako's Assistant Notsuda Tou
Anything that could be a clue has already been taken by the police forensics team.
What exactly are you in such a hurry to find?
I don't like meetings.
What?
Is that the only reason?
Hmm.
Besides...
I smell failure.
I'm Masubuchi, the Production Section Chief.
Production Section Chief Masubuchi Kunio
I'm Amano.
Failure Analysis?
What kind of failure did you have recently?
Huh?
Don't mind her. My name is Notsuda, her assistant.
Please come this way.
The word "engineering" covers a wide range of fields including mechanical, space, genetic,
welfare engineering, food engineering, and so on.
Professor Manoko is well versed in many of these fields.
Recently, she has been focusing on a new field of study called Failure Analysis.
She says it will be useful in accident investigations.
Can you tell us more about what happened at the time of the accident?
Yes, that's fine, but I've already told the company and the police many times.
I'm sure it's all in the report.
That report isn't interesting at all. There's not even a trace of humor in it.
That's how reports are written, normally.
So, Masubuchi, please relax this time
and tell us about the accident in an interesting way.
That night, around 2:00 a.m., lightning struck nearby...
The whole area lost power. That's how it all started.
- I'm back. - Why can't we turn on the backup power?
- How's it going? - It's no good. There's no electricity going to the cooling system.
It seems that the lightning strike also damaged part of the backup power supply.
The tank's cooling system stopped working.
Mizukami, we have to do it. Carbon monoxide.
Even if there's a power failure,
the chemical reaction inside the tank won't stop.
Don't make any mistakes in the procedure.
Yes.
If it's not stopped, the temperature will rise and cause an explosion.
As a last resort, they injected carbon monoxide to stop the reaction and lower the temperature.
Commencing.
That's not good. The temperature won't go down.
I'm going to check the site!
How's it going, Mizukami?
I'm checking now.
The pipe connections...
What's wrong?
Mizukami!
What happened!?
A white bird...
A white bird hit it and made a hole...
I'm sorry, but I can't talk about it in an interesting way after all.
That was interesting.
What?
What did you say, professor?
There was no mention of a white bird anywhere in the report.
It must have been omitted.
It's impossible for a bird to hit the tank and puncture it.
Mizukami is a bit more clumsy than most people.
He was always making small mistakes.
Mistakes? When? What kind?
Simple operational errors, misreading numbers...
The list goes on and on.
Wonderful.
To be honest, in all that chaos, the only thing I can think of is that Mizukami made a mistake in the carbon monoxide injection procedure.
There's no other cause I can think of.
That too...
is my fault for not following up with him.
Can I see Mizukami's work records?
That's... with the Accident Investigation Committee now.
Do you know about the Tacoma Bridge tragedy?
In 1940, in the state of Washington, U.S.A.
the Tacoma Bridge, a suspension bridge spanning 1,600 meters, collapsed.
It collapsed just four months after it opened to traffic.
Naturally, after the accident, an investigation was conducted by experts.
But the construction workers were uncooperative, concerned about their reputation, and the investigation didn't get very far.
A year later, an incident occurred with another bridge of the same structure,
once again causing the worst possible outcome, causing many casualties.
If the investigation had been conducted more promptly,
the second collapse could have been prevented.
Masubuchi, there is no telling when or where a similar accident will occur again.
After it happens, it is too late to regret it.
Like this...
This makes me suspicious even if I'm not the production manager.
But still, it was true, wasn't it?
Rumor has it that you have a vast amount of data stored on accidents that happened in the past.
Knowing that precedent...
That's why you wanted to be here as soon as possible.
There's no way there's such a convenient precedent.
Eh?
It's true what I said about the Tacoma Bridge.
No one died because the bridge was sealed off due to anticipated danger beforehand.
And moreover, there was no second collapse on another bridge.
Eh?
I didn't think he would lend me this if I didn't say so.
You mean you tricked him?
Tokyo Daichi University
Black-tailed seagull...
Swans...
Storks...
Grouse, ducks...
...can't fly?
Manako's Assistant Nishimine Ikumin
Egrets... Herons?
Herons...
It's is a scam!
"Heron" and "Scam" are pronounced the same way in Japanese (Sagi)
What's wrong? Did someone deceive you?
By you guys!
This is a laboratory of Tokyo Daiichi University's Faculty of Engineering, the best in Japan, right?
So why are you sewing robot costumes?
and why are you still using the abacus in this day and age?
This is the most intuitive thing I've ever used. I don't mind doing math by heart.
- I'm not a bird geek myself. - I don't like watching them!
In the first place, I...
joined this lab to study under Professor Amano Manako, an engineer.
And yet, all she talks about is Failure Analysis.
The professor is so self-centered.
That's right! She's not investigating accidents, she's selfish!
Another pun: Accident investigation (Jikocho) sounds like Selfishness (Jikochu)
Everyone says that at least once.
No, I didn't say that.
- Most of them quit after saying it. - But I didn't say it.
I agree though, I'd rather see you doing research than working on Accident Investigation.
Eh?
If she was serious about researching new cameras and robotic suits,
there are many companies that would invest hundreds of millions of yen every year...
Ah... we're in the red again.
Why is Professor Amano going to such lengths to investigate the accident?
It's a...
- Hobby. - Hobby?
In 1928, a safety engineer for an American property and casualty insurance company
Herbert William Heinrich, investigated over 500,000 accidents.
He derived a rule.
For every major accident, there are 29 minor accidents with only minor injuries.
and behind that, there are 300 near-misses.
This is Heinrich's law.
Investigating accidents uncovers a treasure trove of failures, right?
Manako loves failures.
See, that's Manako's collection too.
A lot of products that ended in failure.
- It's the worst, isn't it? - Coming here was a big mistake, wasn't it?
What? What? Did you do something wrong again, Tomo-kun?
No, everything is going great.
Oh, I see.
- Don't sound so disappointed, okay? - What did you find out?
There are several species of white birds in the area.
But none of them are nocturnal.
I mean, there were never any white birds in the first place.
Even if there were, there's no way they would hit the tank and make a hole in it.
It's impossible.
So?
No, that's why I thought that Mizukami...
A new product must be developed within three years,
that's in our contract.
We've already received a lot of R&D money.
We can't just say we can't do it now. You understand, don't you?
Of course.
Doing accident investigations and failure analysis is fine and all.
But the deadline for submitting the interim report on the artificial assistive brain is tomorrow.
What? No way!
I made a template for it, and I'll send you the data too.
Ah... Thank you, Shiho.
Seriously...
Shiho-san, you're a secretary and you can do all that?
She used to be an engineer.
Eh? Then why now...
Ahh, don't bother about me, Notsuda-kun.
Just keep an eye on Manako so she doesn't derail the project any further.
Me?
Go do it, right away.
Okay.
After all, only the birds know the truth about the accident.
Or something.
That's it.
In times like this, if we know the birds' language, everything will be solved.
Yes, yes, yes!
Recently, there are machines that can understand babies, dogs, and cats language.
It should work on birds too...
No, no, no.
That's amazing.... That's just for fun, right?
- It's not like birds can really talk - Ikumin, here are the blueprints, make it quickly.
Yes!
Our employee who was taken to the hospital has regained consciousness.
Second Meeting - Accident Investigation Committee
We were able to obtain new testimony.
When he passed Mizukami on his way to the site...
Mizukami!
What's going on?
It's my fault.
Does that mean he made some kind of mistake after all?
That's unfortunate, but we have to assume so.
Ah, this is the sound a blue heron makes
when it's trying to intimidate or taunt its enemies.
Professor, why are you doing that now?
I just pressed the wrong button. Oh, I'm sorry. Please continue.
Don't tell me you really think a white bird hit the tank and made a hole...
Eh... Injection of carbon monoxide means that the inside of the tank was....
What happened this time?
I got a call from Ikumin.
Did she finish the bird translator from your blueprints?
- She's having a hard time with that one. - She's really doing it?!
That piece of cloth we collected at the site the other day, I know what it is.
Ah...
"Aogiri Service"?
Aogiri Service President Aogiri Hiroyuki
That's certainly our uniform.
It was probably left somewhere and was blown away by that typhoon.
Do your employees ever go to Higashikuni Chemical Co.?
I don't think so. We have no business with them.
I see.
But we were renting out our equipment to a company nearby.
The fire destroyed all of our equipment.
It's a tough situation.
Don't talk like it's someone elese's problem!
You guys didn't come to a decision fast enough, now I can't claim the insurance.
I'm sorry.
What mistakes have you made recently?
What?
Hey, what's wrong?
This Takashi just made a mistake.
I'm sorry!
Idiot! You're always dragging me down.
At the busiest time of the day... hurry up and load it up. Come on!
Why are you just standing there like a bum? Go help him!
Yes.
You'll have to work late again.
Yeah.
Hey, what are you doing?
I'm handing it over to you.
Okay.
Make sure you check the valve carefully.
Yes.
We don't need to develop a bird translator.
Gas cylinder?
Yes.
It's still a working theory,
but an industrial gas cylinder made by Aogiri Service was punctured.
Third Meeting - Accident Investigation Committee
You're saying this thing was blown in by the wind?
No. It flew by itself.
In the warehouse of Aogiri Service where the cylinders are stored,
there was a bamboo pole hanging from the warehouse.
According to what I heard....
It was used to dry the work clothes.
On the night of the accident, the work clothes, which were wet by the typhoon, were being hung out to dry.
And then, a strong wind blew over a cylinder nearby and damaged the valve.
The gas spewed out at once and the cylinder flew out, catching the work clothes drying on the pole.
It broke the windowpane, as the cylinder flew outside.
And when Mizukami saw this,
he thought a white bird had flown by.
And then the cylinder hit the tank...
But the distance from Aogiri Service to Higashikuni Chemical Co.,
do you know how far apart they are?
From the warehouse where the cylinders were stored to the tank that exploded,
the distance in a straight line is about 320 meters.
320?
I don't think a lump of steel like that would fly that far.
In the U.S. in 2008, a cylinder was accidentally knocked over during an inspection of fire extinguishing equipment.
It exploded and flew like a rocket over a distance of more than 200 meters,
hitting a wall and damaging it.
A cylinder that explodes has a tremendous amount of kinetic energy.
Even if that were true, it would have to travel 320 meters.
If it was assisted by the strong winds that day,
it would be possible to fly 320 meters.
Wait a minute.
No cylinder wreckage was found near the accident site.
If we're wrong, our reputation as an accident investigation committee
would be shattered.
Reputation?
I still think the most realistic possibility is that Mizukami made an operational error.
What do you think?
- I have no objection. - I agree. I agree.
Okay, swing your left arm.
Shall we conduct an experiment to recreate the incident? To see if the cylinder can really fly 320 meters.
Don't be selfish. The cost of the experiment alone is 5 million yen.
There's no way Shiho would allow it.
Okay, now your right arm.
Are you sure you want to leave it like this?
If it's impossible, shouldn't you prove that it's impossible?
Box step.
Professor, are you just playing around with me?
Yes, stop right there.
How's it coming? How long will it take you to finish?
What? All this in just one night?
As promised, I'll ask for a loan of 5 million yen out of the 10 million budget.
Are you seriously going to try to recreate the incident?
A typhoon of the same magnitude as the night of the accident doesn't come along that often.
In the rare event that it happens,
we'll just go ahead with it.
South of the island
Professor!
How are we going to do the experiment in a place like this?!!
What on earth is this?
- Watch your step. - Hey, Manako!
Hi!
- Oh, Manako! - Hi!
- Hey, Manako! How are you? - Great!
- How are you? - I'm fine, thank you.
Oh! Manako...!
How have you been?
Yeah, I'm fine.
Oh, Jones, looks like you put on a bit of weight?
Jones McKenzie.
Really?
Long time no see, Professor!
It's good to see you again, François.
François Becker.
You're still as beautiful as ever.
Nazar, you're still as brilliant as ever.
Nazar Kanevsky.
All of them are scientists whose names are on the short list for the Nobel Prize.
Okay, is everyone ready?
Yes!
Ah, by the way Manako. How are things progressing with the research and development?
- What is it? What development? - It's none of your business.
A time machine.
- A time machine? - Jones.
She wants to return to the past, it seems there's some great blunder that needs to be rectified.
Humanity's greatest mistake.
What?
Are you all ready to begin?
All set and ready to go.
Uh huh, OK.
Temporary warehouse preparation complete.
GPS calculation complete.
Temperature 28 degrees.
Barometric pressure 980 hectopascal.
Wind speed 20m/second
Conditions 95% match
OK.
Ready...
Go.
Flying distance 197 meters.
Amazing...
But, this isn't good enough.
Let's fine-tune it and go again!
Be careful.
Typhoon's gonna pass.
This is our last chance!
Ready for launch.
GO!
100...
150...
Come on!
200...
Here you go.
From the start, the hypothesis that the cylinders were the cause was impossible.
Let's accept this failure and think about the next step.
Yes, that's right.
But I was a little surprised about the time machine.
Professor, you're a bit of a romanticist, aren't you?
What?
Aren't you embarassed?
What is it that makes you willing to go that far to rectify?
Humanity's greatest mistake.
I'd go back in time and teach myself a lesson.
"Don't go with that man, or you'll get stuck in a muddy pond and get divorced in a year."
No way...
What do you mean "No way"?
Even if you go back to the beginning, it was a mistake for you to get married in the first place...
If I go back to the beginning...?
I'm sorry, I'm just kidding.
Going back to the beginning
Loss of electrical power
Unable to cool
Abort response
Carbon monoxide
I...
failed.
Now then, I would like to start the interview with Aogiri Service.
Fourth Meeting - Accident Investigation Committee
Professor Amano, please.
There's only one thing I want to ask you.
What triggered the cylinder to fly off that night?
Do you have any idea?
Wait a minute.
Is your question implying that our cylinder caused the accident?
That's right.
You've got to be kidding!
You went to the trouble of conducting experiments on the southern part of the island,
and the result was that the cylinders never made it that far.
It is true that the experiment was a failure.
But that failure taught me the answer.
Tomo-kun.
Yes.
There were 15 experiments in total.
In all of them, the cylinder fell between 170 and 210 meters.
That's pretty far out.
At the points where many of these cylinders fell...
There was actually a large pipe running through this area.
This pipe was used to transport carbon monoxide to the tanks.
Mizukami's last words...
A white bird...
The bird hit it and punctured a hole.
We always assumed that the tank was damaged.
But in fact, the cylinder landed 100 meters away from the tank
and punctured the pipe.
The tank had originally lost its cooling system and was on the verge of exploding.
In the end, the supply of carbon monoxide stopped, and the tank exploded.
I traced it back to the source.
That's a false accusation! That's just conjecture.
Tomo-kun.
So far, the investigation has focused on the area where the tank was located.
But this time, we started from the new location.
Once again, we collected and analyzed the debris.
And the resulting material and shape
matches the cylinders belonging to your company.
Didn't you check the number of cylinders after the accident?
You would know right away that one was missing, wouldn't you?
- What about it, Endo? - That's...
Could it be that you knew and hid it?
That's not true. I really didn't do anything...
Takashi, did you screw up again?
Why would I... I always make sure.
That's enough! That's enough.
Gather everyone together right away. I'll find out who's responsible.
Ahh, that's not relevant.
The Accident Investigation Committee doesn't want to know whose fault it is.
We just want to know why it happened.
For every major accident, there are approximately 29 minor accidents.
Like the one you had the other day.
And for every one minor accident.
there are 300 more that go unnoticed.
Heinrich's Law.
We've examined the work conditions at your company.
Your employees tend to be chronically fatigued due to overwork.
Naturally, their attention span and work ethic have decreased, and they frequently make small mistakes.
One such mistake was not keeping track of the number of cylinders.
This sloppy management system led to the cylinders exploding
and triggered the explosion accident.
That is the conclusion of the Accident Investigation Committee.
Thank you Professor. That's great.
This should allow Mizukami to rest in peace a little bit.
Is something still bothering you?
I'm wondering why Mizukami said "It's my fault".
Certainly,
as one of the factory employees,
I'm sure it means that he felt responsible.
Now Mizukami's reputation is protected.
That's good, isn't it?
Is it true that you submitted your resignation?
Yes, it's only natural as a result of such an accident.
But it wasn't your fault.
There was nothing you could do if it was caused by the cylinders from Aogiri Service.
I would like to return Mizukami's work records.
Please take a look at the last entry.
Oh, no, the last entry is not here.
I noticed it earlier too...
"UPS Repair Contact".
UPS is, as I recall...
Uninterruptible Power Supply. In other words, power supply during an emergency, right?
It seems that the lightning strike also damaged part of the backup power supply.
The tank's cooling system stopped working.
How was he able to write down the repair schedule for the emergency power supply
that was damaged by lightning on the day of the accident, when he died right after?
And it was dated a month ahead of schedule.
The emergency power supply was broken from the beginning.
What?
And he knew that.
But for some reason, he scheduled the repair for a month ahead of time and left it there without telling anyone.
If that is true...
It was clearly human error on Mizukami's part.
That's why he said, "It's my fault".
Do you have any proof?
No. It is simply my imagination.
Is it something like Heinrich's Law?
That guy made a lot of small mistakes too.
Are you saying he's the same as the guys at Aogiri Service?
They are not the same.
Mizukami's failures and Aogiri Service's failures are completely different.
It is true that Mizukami had many failures.
But that is because he faced up to the failures
that other people would have turned away from.
He never hid all of his failures and tried to share them with everyone.
In order to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Am I wrong?
This plant's profits have been declining recently.
We were under severe criticism from headquarters.
The plant was operating at full capacity in order to make up for it.
Mizukami found a problem with the UPS...
We would have to shut down the plant for days to repair and inspect it.
There's no way we could do that.
I told him to keep quiet for a month...
It's like I killed him.
I am so sorry.
May I take a video of this?
Can you repeat that line?
Hey, Professor!
The most effective way to communicate failure
is with the raw emotion of the people involved.
No, no matter how much want it...
We talked about the Tacoma Bridge, right?
Ah, that was a lie.
It's true that the bridge collapsed just four months after it was built.
But it is a lie to say that a similar accident occurred due to a delay in the investigation.
In fact, the danger was foreseen.
So the designers were able to film the moment the bridge collapsed.
And they shared the footage of their failure with the world.
As a result, a similar accident would never happen again.
I don't think you killed Mizukami.
I just want to make sure that his death was not in vain.
To prevent a second Mizukami.
Please tell as many people as possible about your failure.
This failure is not an end.
Make it a beginning.
Was it really necessary to reveal the topic of the emergency power supply?
Finding out the truth won't bring Mizukami back to life.
It's just that
it's also because the head office imposed harsh conditions unnecessarily...
Ah... Shut up! Stop that krupopo, krupopo!
Oh, it's no good.
The speech is too heavy and dark, isn't it?
Ah, no good.
What's up with this pigeon?
I fed it on the rooftop to listen to it, and now it's feeling attached.
It's illegal to keep them without permission.
Really?
It can't be helped, we have to let it go.
I'm telling you, there is no truth that can be hidden from an accident investigation.
If you are not prepared to reveal everything,
we can't prevent a bigger accident.
It would be good if you knew that.
Oh, that's not me right now.
Bigger accidents...
There aren't many bigger accidents than that one.
The biggest mistake of humanity... right?
You heard it too!
I heard she's building a time machine to stop herself from getting married.
It's unrealistic, the motive is dishonest, and what does she think a university lab is for?
Really...
Notsuda-kun, I'm sorry, but could you clean up that mess?
No matter how many times I tell her, she won't do it.
Ah... ah...
So this is it.
A time machine.
1979, March 28 1986, April 26 2011, March 11
These dates...
3 Mile Island
Chernobyl
2011, March 11 was the day of the Tohoku tsunami and earthquake which caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
Thank you.