Toshio Nishizawa took over as the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) on Friday.

Nishizawa, the former managing director of the company will be succeeding Masataka Shimizu, who resigned in disgrace from his post on Friday. However, he will be officially stepping down from his duties only by the end of June. This probably is the most undesired promotion in Japan's corporate sector: taking up responsibility of the besieged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis.

In the face of a pile of tough challenges, I believe that (Nishizawa) has the kind of tenacious perseverance to tackle them, said Masataka Shimuzu to reporters when the company released its dismal annual earnings report on Friday.

Nishizawa, the 60-year-old new president, has been working for Tepco for the past 36 years now, having joined in 1975.

I am resigning for having shattered public trust about nuclear power, and for having caused so many problems and fears for the people, Shimizu told reporters, during a news conference.

Tsunehisa Katsumata, 71, Chairman of the company who is a former president, continues to hold the post in a effort to persist managing the crisis.

With the company facing such huge losses for the fiscal year ended March 2011 totaled 1.25 trillion yen ($15 billion) - one of the biggest annual financial losses ever for Japan's corporate world, taking over as the president is going to be no cake-walk for Nishizawa.

I feel a grave sense of responsibility to take this large role in the face of an unprecedented crisis since the company's establishment, said Nishizawa at Friday's earnings briefing the report stated.

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