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The Energy Security of Japan after Fukushima 3/11

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The Political Economy of Renewable Energy and Energy Security

Part of the book series: Energy, Climate and the Environment ((ECE))

Abstract

Energy (supply) security has always been a major security concern of Japanese governments, both before and after WWII. Securing access to raw materials and oil, for instance, drove Japan into WWII. As the third-largest economy in the world, the fourth-largest energy consumer, the third-largest oil consumer and importer, the second-largest coal importer as well as the world’s largest LNG importer (already before the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in 2011), Japan’s lack of domestic energy resources, has determined the country’s energy policies domestically as well as driving its energy foreign policies abroad. The expansion of nuclear power since the oil crisis in 1973–74 is the result of Japan’s heavy dependence for oil and LNG from the Middle East, which accounts for almost 90 percent of its imports.

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Authors
  1. Frank Umbach
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Espen Moe (Associate Professor) & Paul Midford (Professor) (Associate Professor) &  (Professor)

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© 2014 Frank Umbach

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Umbach, F. (2014). The Energy Security of Japan after Fukushima 3/11. In: Moe, E., Midford, P. (eds) The Political Economy of Renewable Energy and Energy Security. Energy, Climate and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137338877_3

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