Japan's Energy Research Articles

Rethinking Civil Society–State Relations in Japan after the Fukushima Accident

The 3/11 combined disaster in Japan focused both Japanese civil society and government decision makers on the issue of nuclear power. Whereas surveys over the post-war period indicated that many Japanese supported the growing role of nuclear power in Japan's overall energy policy, the current crisis has resulted in a sea-change in public opinion. Even though some scholars have depicted Japanese civil society as comparatively weak and poorly organized, the disaster has stimulated citizen science, prompted large protests, and spurred many to challenge governmental authority. This article investigates the ways that Japan's relatively stable patterns of state-and-civil-society relations have been reconfigured as a result of the Tohoku disaster.

Demanding a safer tomorrow: Japan's anti‐nuclear rallies in the summer of 2012 (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This article discusses Japan's nuclear energy policy and describes the anti‐nuclear protest demonstrations that were held in Japan throughout the summer of 2012, including the author's personal experiences at some of these protests, illuminating the grassroots nature of the current anti‐nuclear movement.

Interpretations of Japanese Modernity: A Case Study of Japan's Energy Transition in the Ceramics Industry

Interpretations of Japanese Modernity: A Case Study of Japan's Energy Transition in the Ceramics Industry

The policy responses to the Fukushima nuclear accident and their effect on Japanese energy security

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station received worldwide attention in March 2011; since then, much of the reporting has been limited to stories such as the state of the reactor, the trans-Pacific movement of flotsam caused by the tsunami, and the effect of the tsunami and accident on Japanese communities. Other than the closure of Japan's last operating reactor in May 2012, little has been discussed outside of Japan regarding the policies introduced in response by the Japanese government in its effort to maintain Japanese energy security and the effects on Japan's electricity suppliers and the Japanese people. This paper presents a detailed examination of the crisis-driven changes to policy and regulations instituted by the Japanese government and electricity suppliers in the immediate aftermath of the accident up to May 2012. The disruption to Japan's long-term energy policies is discussed in terms of the country's need to maintain its energy security. The paper also considers a number of different energy futures for Japan in light of the accident and how they could improve energy security in terms of availability, affordability, and acceptability.

A Casualty of Political Transformation? The Politics of Energy Efficiency in the Japanese Transportation Sector

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power in 2009 promising significant transportation sector reform, but it has struggled to implement its proposals. I argue that the DPJ's initiatives faltered due to the legacy of “efficiency clientelism.” Historically, Japanese transportation policy combined two imperatives: (1) encourage efficiency by raising the cost of energy-inefficient transportation, and (2) redistribute benefits to supporters of the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Because of the legacy of efficiency clientelism, DPJ campaign pledges—designed to appeal broadly to the general public by reducing transportation costs—ran up against the prospect of sharp declines in revenues and energy efficiency. Efficiency clientelism was well suited to political realities in Japan prior to the 1990s, but recent developments have undercut its viability. This raises profound questions about the sustainability of Japan's energy efficiency achievements.

Sino-Japanese Energy Relations: Processes and Constraints

Economic growth and a resultant rise in energy demand in China and other East Asian countries have attracted academic interests in energy security and energy cooperation. This article examines the nuanced development of institutions to realise Sino-Japanese energy cooperation at the bilateral and regional levels. It highlights the objective and process of cooperative engagements in terms of relative gain concern and the involvement of non-state actors. The arguments that this article advances are three-fold. First, the Japanese government has pushed forwards multilateral energy cooperation in East Asia and bilateral cooperation for energy conservation with China, which would produce both economic and political gains. Second, the Chinese government has adopted a cautious approach to Japan's energy engagements largely because it took into account the relative political gains of committing to such engagements in addition to the economic gains produced by them. Third, the involvement of non-state actors in cooperative projects and their meaningful roles in forging cross-border linkages could play a catalytic role in advancing cooperative processes.

Sino-Japan Energy Competition and Cooperation in the Background of Japana’s Nuclear Crisis in the Russian Far East

Japan and China are the powers of energy consumption and importing. Since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident, the question of nuclear safety will influence on Japan's energy strategy. After the nuclear crisis, Japan will adjust their energy strategies, increase oil imports, expend its energy competition with China in the Far East, so, China will need a strategy to deal with this changing situation.

Japan's nuclear energy industry in danger of shutting down

Japan's nuclear energy industry in danger of shutting down

Method to Utilize Surplus Electric Power of Photovoltaic Systems by Heat Pump Water Heaters

Large capacity photovoltaic (PV) systems will be installed in future power systems. According to Japan's energy outlook, the target capacity of PV systems for 2030 is about 50GW. When the large volume PV systems are installed in a power system, the reverse power flow from PV systems may cause the surplus electric power. To utilize the surplus electric power without the reduction of PV power generation, operation of customer equipment such as heat pump water heater (HPWH) according to PV power generation is expected to be one of the solutions. In this paper, cooperative control method of customer equipment with the PV power generation is proposed, and the effectiveness of the proposed control is evaluated by simulation analyses.

Evolution of Energy Conservation Policies and Tools: The Caseof Japan

In the mainland of China, the constraints of environments, resources, especially energy resources, has increasingly become the bottleneck of economic development after reform policy for more than thirty years. In this paper, we illustrate the basic structure of energy conservation and emission reduction from historic, institutional and comparative analysis based on Japan's case as an example of energy conservation. Our investigation shows the evolution of Japan's energy conservation policies from a view of energy security to the view of environment protection and low carbon economy. We also analyze the tools that Japan adopted to remove energy conservation barriers.

Analysis on Japan's Long-term Energy Outlook considering Massive Deployment of Variable Renewable Energy under Nuclear Energy Scenario

Analysis on Japan's Long-term Energy Outlook considering Massive Deployment of Variable Renewable Energy under Nuclear Energy Scenario

Japan's New National Border Strategy and Maritime Security

This paper targets the transformation of sea security issues for Japan, which is obliged to consider itself a seafaring country in order to fulfil its responsibility in a global society where the US guarantees freedom of navigation over the high seas. I introduce Japan's remote border islands in the introduction and survey the characteristics of Japan's sea security framework in the following section. After introducing Japan's current legal arrangements on ocean policy, I highlight Japan's maritime interests and evolving strategies. My argument here is not necessarily analytical; rather, I aim to enumerate Japan's border challenges and to share basic knowledge about Japan's sea border works for future empirical and comparative studies. Given Japan's energy and transportation dependence on sea routes, securing not only the sea border but also the far seas is critical for Japan's stability and management. In short, the improvement of the coast guard system and anti-piracy operations deployed far from Japan (particularly in the Straits of Malacca and the sea area off the coast of Somalia) matter to Japan.

Japan faces post-Fukushima power struggle

On the morning of 11 March 2011, Japan's cabinet forwarded a bill to parliament (known as the Diet) that would modestly expand support for renewable energy. A few hours later, an earthquake struck northeastern Japan. The tsunami and nuclear crisis it unleashed transformed that noncontroversial piece of legislation into a vanguard of efforts to radically redraw Japan's energy policy.

Estimates of the potential for energy conservation in the Chinese steel industry

The study evaluates the energy saving potential of the Chinese steel industry by studying its potential future energy efficiency gap. In order to predict the future energy efficiency gap, a multivariate regression model combined with risk analysis is developed to estimate future energy intensity of China's steel industry. It is found that R&D intensity, energy saving investment, labor productivity and industry concentration are all important variables that affect energy intensity. We assess the possible measures as to how China's steel industry can narrow the energy efficiency gap with Japan by means of scenario analysis. Using Japan's current energy efficiency level as baseline, the energy saving potential of China's steel industry is more than 200 million ton coal equivalent in 2008, and it would fall to zero in 2020. However, if greater efforts were made to conserve energy, it would be possible to narrow down the energy efficiency gap between China and Japan by around 2015. Finally, using the results of the scenario analysis, future policy priorities for energy conservation in China's steel industry are assessed in this paper.

Japan's new basic energy plan

In June 2010, the Japanese cabinet adopted a new Basic Energy Plan (BEP). This was the third such plan that the government has approved since the passage of the Basic Act on Energy Policy in 2002, and it represents the most significant statement of Japanese energy policy in more than four years, since the publication of the New National Energy Strategy (NNES) in 2006. Perhaps more than its predecessors, moreover, the new plan establishes a number of ambitious targets as well as more detailed measures for achieving those targets. Among the targets are a doubling of Japan's “energy independence ratio,” a doubling of the percentage of electricity generated by renewable sources and nuclear power, and a 30 percent reduction in energy-related CO 2 emissions, all by 2030. This paper explains the origins of the 2010 BEP and why it was adopted. It then describes the content of the plan and how it differs from the NNES. A third section analyzes the appropriateness of the new goals and targets contained in the BEP and their feasibility, finding that achievement of many of the targets was likely to be quite challenging even before the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis.

Empowered? Evaluating Japan's national energy strategy under the DPJ administration

In August 2009, after 54 years of virtually unbroken rule, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was ousted from power by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The DPJ's campaign platform included a pledge to facilitate extreme reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, at the COP16 meeting in Cancun, Japan announced that it would not accept further emission reduction targets without broader commitment from all nations. This paper seeks to explain this dichotomy by employing a targeted stakeholder evaluation based on surveys with 321 Japanese citizens to assess the extent to which influential stakeholder groups in Japan supports a potentially costly transition to a low-carbon energy infrastructure amidst severe economic challenges that the nation faces. Findings help explain Japan's adversarial role in COP16 negotiations in Cancun, despite the stated GHG reduction ambitions of Japan's current ruling party. The analysis concludes that if the DPJ does embrace aggressive CO2 reduction targets in the future, the strategic focus will likely mirror the former ruling party's energy policy of bolstering nuclear power generation capacity and promoting energy efficiency improvements while exhibiting lukewarm commitment to supporting capacity development in alternative sources of energy supply such as solar panels and wind turbines.

今後の石油・天然ガス政策について

The Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station has lead to a comprehensive review of Japan's energy policy. In addition, upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa might have serious impacts on petroleum and natural gas policy. This lecture briefly overviews prospects for petroleum and natural gas policy in these circumstances.

エネルギー生産を担うゴム産業 日本のエネルギー政策の現状と課題

エネルギー生産を担うゴム産業 日本のエネルギー政策の現状と課題

Japan's Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Potential as Well as Long-Term Installation Goal and its Roadmap by the Year 2050

Net usable onshore wind energy in Japan is known as 6,400 MW, estimated in March 2000. However, there is the need to revise this including offshore based on the latest analytical method, recent development of wind turbine technology, and the latest national land map. This study re-estimated the Japan's onshore and offshore gross wind energy resources as well as the net available wind energy in consideration of social and economic constraints. Based on the estimation, the study then assessed a long-term installation goal and an installation roadmap. Consequently, the potential estimation found 6,434,830 MW for the wind energy resources and 782,220 MW for the available wind energy in onshore and offshore of Japan at annual mean wind speed of 6.5 m/s for onshore and 7.5 m/s for offshore at 80 m height. Furthermore, the roadmap and annual installation capacity was estimated to achieve the long-term installation goal, “the amount of electricity produced by wind turbines exceeds 10% of the Japan's national electricity demand by the year 2050”. As a result, the cumulative targets of wind turbines installation were found as following: 3,000 MW in 2010; 11,310 MW in 2020; 27,000 MW in 2030; 44,300 MW in 2040; and 50,000 MW in 2050. The annual production capacity including replacement of turbines after the year 2030 continues to exceed 2,500 MW every year, therefore the sustainable development of the wind power generation industry is expected.

ＣＯ２地中貯留への取組 我が国エネルギー政策におけるＣＣＳの位置付け

ＣＯ２地中貯留への取組 我が国エネルギー政策におけるＣＣＳの位置付け