Fred Uleman criticized my conclusion that Japanese actors have yet to make a serious post-Fukushima choice in energy policy-something that I think is increasingly evident based on the data. I have no problem with his objection, but I would like to respond to his main point that "it would be more useful to look for ways to get forward to sustainability."

I would agree with Fred if this Forum were dedicated to renewable energy technology improvements and engineering practices (there are many forums to which I subscribe that I would happily recommend). However, SSJ Forum is dedicated to (hopefully) disinterested third-party social science methods and analysis of Japanese political economy.

I was not making normative judgments about what energy source Japan should adopt and working backwards to justify it as if we were the Heritage Foundation or the Cato Institute. I am primarily interested in Japan's historical decision-making patterns, what actors chose, and what actors likely will choose, based on an assessment of publicly verifiable data, transcripts, etc.

I think there is plenty of room for collegial disagreement.

On the issue of what the Japanese public wants more moving forward -- economic growth, energy security, or environmental friendliness -- I agree with Paul Midford that public opinion polls are a useful indicator of the public mood (and the Asahi Shimbun polls I need to review carefully again - thanks), but on balance, they are only one of many variables. I don't share Paul's certainty in what Japanese actors currently want.

Paul J. Scalise, Ph.D.
JSPS Research Fellow
Institute of Social Science
The University of Tokyo
Tel: 080-3719-9579