Masataka Shimizu, the head of the Japanese utility TEPCO, resigned today after the nuclear accident in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country in March. Workers are still trying, with varying degrees of success, to get the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control.

“I take responsibility for this accident, which has undermined trust in nuclear safety and brought much grief and fear to society,” Mr. Shimizu said. “Whatever happens, there must be change,” he said.

The crisis has raised serious questions over cozy ties between Japan’s nuclear industry and the regulators charged with overseeing safety at the country’s 55 nuclear reactors. It has also prompted a rethinking of Japan’s energy policy, which had sought to raise the country’s dependence on nuclear energy to one-half of its electricity needs, from the current one-third.

The Japanese government has also been saddled with the task of aiding Tokyo Electric as it starts to pay out what is expected to be trillions of yen in compensation claims even as it continues desperate efforts to stabilize the Fukushima plant.

Off the top of my head, here is a list of Western CEOs who have not resigned despite various catastrophes with global consequences at their companies: Lloyd Blankfein. Jamie Dimon. John Mack. Vikram Pandit. Tony Hayward. John Stumpf. I’ll leave it to you to continue.

There’s just a different mindset, a different concept in Eastern cultures that has evidently been lost in the higher echelons of Western capitalism. That would be the concept of shame.

Now, Shimizu handed over the reins of TEPCO to a senior executive inside the company, which didn’t sit well with some people. But he did recognize the wrong done at TEPCO on his watch, and took responsibility for it.

What a refreshing change of pace.