Silver-lining to Japan's energy crisis [View all]

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/JAP-01-240214.html



Silver-lining to Japan's energy crisis
By Aiko Shimizu
Feb 24, '14

Since returning to office, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has made national security reform one of his top priorities. He has introduced a series of initiatives to strengthen the country's defense posture: the creation of a National Security Council, the publication of a National Security Strategy report, promotion of a new defense doctrine, and an increase in defense spending. He has also undertaken efforts to lift constraints on Japan's security policies: a revision of the pacifist constitution, are-interpretation of the right of collective self-defense, and a removal of the restriction on exporting defense-related equipment.

Those moves have attracted considerable attention. Less noticed, but no less important to Abe's national security agenda, is energy policy. Energy security is of special concern for Japan, a country with few indigenous energy resources. Always important, Japan's energy situation has become an even greater concern after the March 2011 "triple catastrophe".

The accident at Fukushima resulted in the closure of all the country's nuclear power plants, facilities that generated around 30% of its energy supplies. Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ballooned to replace the energy produced by those shuttered plants, and as a result Japan has become the world's largest importer of the fuel, reaching a record US$68.98 billion last year. The nuclear shutdown has transformed Japan's trade balance, contributing to a trade deficit of $112 billion in 2013 and doing great damage to long-term economic stability.

Tokyo has responded to these energy concerns by reinvigorating its diplomacy. Japan has put a priority on efforts to secure a share of the US shale oil bonanza, lobbying hard to get the US Department of Energy (DOE) to change its rules on energy exports. The DOE has obliged, approving the export of US natural gas from four out of six LNG terminals to Japan. Those exports - and perhaps even the approval - were facilitated by Japanese investment in LNG facilities in the US, such as Mitsubishi and Mitsui's investment in the $6 billion Sempra natural gas terminal in Louisiana.