Fuels Paradise by Duffield John S

Author:Duffield, John S.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2015-06-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Japan

Across-the-board Energy Insecurity

Japan … has been obsessed with the question of energy security for much of the past century.

—Robert Manning, The Asian Energy Factor

Of all the states examined in this study, Japan has arguably experienced the most acute concerns about energy security during the periods under consideration. As in the case of France, these concerns have reflected Japan’s profound lack of indigenous energy supplies, which has made Japan extremely dependent on imports. Since the 1970s, Japan has imported more than 80 percent of its primary energy consumption (PEC), and the figure is closer to 95 percent if imports of uranium are taken into account. Unlike France, however, Japan is geographically separated from friendly and reliable sources of energy. All of Japan’s energy imports arrive by sea, and usually from quite distant sources. Thus the International Energy Agency concluded in a 2003 review, “Energy security issues are more critical in Japan than in most IEA countries owing to its isolated location and limited domestic resources” (IEA 2003, 7).

In view of the magnitude and breadth of Japan’s energy security concerns, the government of Japan has arguably made the most extensive efforts to improve the country’s energy security. These efforts have spanned almost the entire spectrum of possibilities, from ensuring access to foreign sources of energy, to diversifying Japan’s energy mix, to reducing energy consumption, to establishing stockpiles. And these efforts have yielded large dividends in terms of a significant improvement in Japan’s energy security. In 1973, Japan relied on oil to meet nearly 80 percent of its PEC. By 2000, oil’s share of PEC had dropped to well under half, and it has continued to decline. Oil has been replaced by natural gas, nuclear power, and to a lesser extent, coal. In addition, Japan has established one of the world’s largest stockpiles of oil and petroleum products in terms of days of supply. And the Japanese economy has boasted the highest levels of energy efficiency in the industrialized world.

Although Japan’s energy security has improved significantly, however, it remains perhaps the most precarious of the major industrialized countries. Japan remains the most heavily dependent on energy imports, and along with the oil-producing United States, the most dependent on oil. In addition, many Japanese have voiced concern that so much of the oil comes from a single region, the Middle East, although given the relative ease with which oil and petroleum products can be traded, there are grounds for questioning just how much more vulnerable this makes Japan. At the same time, renewable sources of energy have still contributed only a small share of PEC. And Japan’s 2010 plan to increase energy security placed considerable emphasis on the expansion of nuclear power, an emphasis that was called into serious question by the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The 1970s: Japanese Responses to the Oil Shocks

The oil shocks of the 1970s hit Japan especially hard. In 1973, Japan was more dependent on oil, which accounted for nearly 80 percent of PEC,

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