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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
A June 2 article in Bloomberg by the deservedly respected University of California at San Diego Professor of Japanese Business, Ulrike Schaede, makes the argument that Abenomics requires nuclear restarts in order to work. Professor Schaede presents an overview of Japan's present circumstances on energy, and concludes that “Japan has only one viable course of action: It cannot afford not to turn its nuclear-power plants back on.” In the present article, I suggest that Japan cannot restart its nuclear capacity in the time-frame suggested by Professor Schaede. And drawing on recent research by Japanese and American experts, I shall argue that Japan's best bet is in accelerating its efficiency and conservation programmes.
1 The article is titled “Abenomics Needs Cheap Nuclear Power to Work - Bloomberg,” Bloomberg News June 2, 2013: here
2 On this, see “End of the Line for the Tsuruga Reactor,” Japan Times editorial, May 28, 2013: here.
3 A cogent analysis of the background and pertinent issues can be found in Jeff Kingston, “Is it Safe? Ruling party pushes nuclear village agenda,” Japan Times, May 26, 2013: here. See also Charles D Ferguson and Mark Jansson, “Regulating Japanese Nuclear Power in the Wake of the Fukushima Daiichi Incident,” Federation of Atomic Scientists, FAS Issue Brief, May 2013: here
4 The World Nuclear Association notes that the reactor is being developed in conjunction with “Kyoto University, the Central Institute of the Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) and the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC), with funding from METI.” See “Small Nuclear Power Reactors (Updated June 2013),” World Nuclear Association: here
5 See the interview with Yamamoto (in Japanese) in the June 5 edition of the weekly newspaper, Decentralized Energy. Note that Yamamoto is also a representative from Fukui, home to many of Japan's reactors: here
6 By Mid-March of 2012, 80% of Japanese were ready to agree to abandoning nuclear power. See (in Japanese) “80% Favour Abandoning Nuclear in a Nationwide Poll,” Chugoku Shinbun, March 18, 2013.
7 On this, see Richard Samuels 3-11: Disaster and Change in Japan, Cornell University Press, pp. 12-13.
8 See, in Japanese, “Kyodo Poll: 54% Oppose Nuclear Restarts,” 47 News, May 19, 2013: here
9 (in Japanese) “At most there will be submission to the new regulations for 6 reactors restarts, and the order of inspection remains undecided,” Sankei Shinbun, June 8, 2013: here
10 (in Japanese) “The pro-restart faction's movements are accelerating, and there are LDP worries that they will negatively effect the Upper House elections,” Jiji News, June 8, 2013: here
11 In political science terms, we should also consider the possibility that the politicians know very well that the NRA has to establish its bona fides on the international and domestic fronts, and therefore cannot okay restarts in any significant number and in a short period of time. But at the same time, the more the politicians are seen to lobby, the more support they (presumably) get from the utilities, who are desperate for restarts because they have spent so much money on upgrading their new care facilities to meet the new safety regulations and have the problem of a very bloated cost structure. In 2012, the monopoly utilities lost about YEN 1.6 trillion on a total of just under YEN 18 trillion in sales.
12 See (in Japanese) Fujiyama Mitsuo, “Yen Devaluation and Concern Over Rising Thermal Fuel Prices,” JRI paper No. 2013-003, May 2, 2013: here
13 For a deeper analysis of the fracking boom per se, see Amory B Lovins and John Creyts, “Hot Air About Cheap Natural Gas,” Rocky Mountain Institute, September 6, 2013: here
14 On this, see Andrew DeWit “Abenomics and Energy Efficiency in Japan,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 11, Issue 6, No. 2 February 11, 2013: here
15 ibid.
16 For example, see IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol's arguments in Fen Montaigne “An Influential Global Voice Warns of Runaway Emissions,” Yale Environment 360, June 11, 2012: here
17 On the IEA's advice, see the post by Richard Van Noorden, “IEA calls for focus on energy efficiency,” Nature Newsblog, November 12, 2012: here
18 For example, the State of Hawaii, in collaboration with the US Department of Energy and the military, faced up to the constraints of its very expensive (even more expensive than Japan) power economy, including prices for natural gas and electricity that are in excess Japan's, by aggressive efficiency and renewable targets. Hawaii aims at 40% renewables and 30% efficiency by 2030.
One wonders why the IEA has not drawn parallels between the State of Hawaii and the island of Japan and their choices as high-cost power economies.
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