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September 26, 2011

[SSJ: 6877] Oct. 14, 2011 The Political Economy of Power Policy in Japan

From: Eriko Kawaguchi
Date: 2011/09/26

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* *
*The Political Economy of Power Policy in Japan*

*Date:* Friday, October 14, 2011 *Time:* 7:00p.m.
(Talk will start at
7:30p.m.) *Venue:*
Temple University, Japan Campus, Azabu Hall 212/213 2-8-12, Minami Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo (access:http://www.tuj.ac.jp/about/access/azabu.html tp://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1013842329&msgi
d=1673329&act=3O1N&c=397830&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fww
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)
*Speaker: *
Andrew DeWit, Professor, Rikkyo University
*Moderator:*
Kyle Cleveland, Associate Professor, Temple University Japan Campus
*Admission:* Free (Open to general public) *RSVP:* icas@tuj.ac.jp **If you RSVP you are automatically registered. If possible, we ask you to RSVP but we always welcome participants even you do not RSVP.*
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*Outline*

This talk examines the political economy of power policy in the wake of Fukushima as a struggle between incumbent and emergent interests. It argues that one big question for Japan is the extent to which it can use the tool of smart policy, especially the feed-in tariff (FIT), and the backdrop of Fukushima and a global economic crisis to accelerate deployment of sustainable energy and distribute the attendant economic opportunity as widely as possible.

Japan has seen over a decade of fraught politics concerning the FIT, deemed the most effective policy for diffusing renewable power. Japan’s eventful summer of 2011 saw open politicization of the policy because of the potent threat it now represents to vested interests. At JPY 16 trillion, Japan has the world’s third largest electricity market. This market is divided into 10 separate fiefs controlled by regionally and functionally monopolized utilities with the cooperation and support of METI, the power-unit producers (Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi), the peak association of Keidanren, and the other powerful actors grouped in the nuclear village. They are committed to nuclear energy, which they represent as low-cost, low-carbon, a keystone of energy security and a lucrative export opportunity. In the wake of Fukushima, it has become clear that a large swath of the financial sector is also in favour of the monopolized status quo, being committed via the bond markets or shareholdings to the utilities and their assets.

Rising in opposition to this bloc that dominates energy policy as well as the fiscal and regulatory tools of the central government are emergent interests and the regions. These actors stress renewable energy and smart communities as an alternative growth paradigm underpinned by the FIT. The business interests include Softbank, NTT Docomo, Jounan Credit Union (Japan's largest), Sharp and other firms. The administrative ranks include the bulk of prefectures and large urban centres, And there is a larger social movement that includes an array of rural producer groups, NPOs and the like. Their view of economic opportunity stresses falling costs for renewables as well as the positive externalities of smart grids, smart cities and other allied infrastructure and service-sector opportunities.

This talk centres on the role of the FIT as a window through which to explore how the structure of political and economic incentives in the power sector has shifted since the shock of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns

*Speaker*

Andrew DeWit is Professor of the Political Economy of Public Finance, Rikkyo University and an Asia-Pacific Journal coordinator. With Kaneko Masaru, he is the coauthor of* Global Financial Crisis *published by Iwanami in 2008.


------------------------------
*Robert Dujarric*
Director* *
*Kyle Cleveland*
Associate Director
*Eriko Kawaguchi*
Coordinator

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies
Temple University, Japan Campus
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Approved by ssjmod at 02:10 PM