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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
Japan's former Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro has repeatedly called for current Prime Minister Abe Shinzo to make an explicit decision to get out of nuclear power. Koizumi's full-scale press conference on this matter, held on November 12 in front of 350 journalists, shook up the Abe cabinet. It continues to do so, judging by the tendentious commentary it continues to attract. Koizumi forced the cabinet to address an item they clearly wanted to finesse for the time being. But the substance of Koizumi's over hour-long event has not yet received the attention it merits. This article puts Koizumi's talk in context, showing that his position is shared by all the former Japanese prime ministers, including Nakasone Yasuhiro. Most important, contrary to the claim that Japan's choice is either gas or nuclear, Koizumi highlighted the ongoing deployment of radical efficiency and renewable energy as the proper path forward. And the accelerating rollout of smart cities across Japan suggests that Koizumi and his colleagues are standing on the right side of history.
1 The English-language coverage of the issue has been spotty at best, and largely dominated by observers sympathetic to the Abe cabinet and either inattentive to the content of Koizumi's press conference or simply unaware of . One example us Joji Harano, “The Impact of Koizumi's Call for Zero Nuclear Power,” Nippon.com, December 5, 2013.
2 A recent recycling of this claim is at the site “Infoseekwoman.” See TV Jorunal (sic) Editors (in Japanese) “Why This Timing on Former PM Koizumi Jun’ichiro's Call to ‘Get Out of Nuclear’“ December 1, 2013.
3 The Wall Street Journal's Yuka Hayashi has an excellent short article on Ms Abe in her “Japan's First Lady Isn’t Shy About Criticizing Policy,” Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2013.
4 A short blog post on Koizumi's fact-finding mission is available at Peter Durfee “Koizumi Comes Out Against Nukes,” Nippon.com, August 26, 2013.
5 On this, see (in Japanese) “Behind the scene of the one-man fight for a nuclear pull-out: The corporate-supported ‘Koizumi think tank’ comes apart in mid-air,” Gendai Asahi, November 29, 2013.
6 On Nakasone's comments, see (in Japanese) Yokoyama Wataru “Former Prime Minister Nakasone Shifts to the Natural Energy Camp,”Alterna, June 27, 2011.
7 For example, the Asahi news service reported on December 12 that they had submitted a questionnaire on restarts to the 480 Diet members
8 Koizumi's press conference is viewable - in the original Japanese (no translation yet available) - at several YouTube sites. In the link cited in this footnote, Koizumi's discussion of renewable energy and advanced energy conservation options already being deployed in Japan are concentrated between 08:00-20:00. His discussion of Amory Lovins’ Reinventing Fire, whose Japanese translation Koizumi got from LDP member Kohno Taro, is at 40:00-42:00.
9 See UPI “Japan lowers carbon dioxide emissions reduction target,” November 18, 2013.
10 On this, see the US Department of Energy's “U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather,” U.S. Department of Energy, DOE/PI-0013, July, 2013.
11 See Charles K. Ebinger and John P. Banks, “The Electricity Revolution,” Brookings Research Reports, November 8, 2013.
12 See “The Smart City Market Will Be Worth a Cumulative Total of 3,100 trillion Yen for 2011-2030,” Nikkei BP Press Release, September 27, 2010.
13 See the Smart Cities publication “Smart Cities Readiness Guide,” November 17, 2013.
14 An excerpt from this important and timely book can be found here.
15 See “How to lose half a trillion euros: Europe's electricity providers face an existential threat,” The Economist, October 12, 2013.
16 On this, see Amory Lovins “Separating Fact from Fiction In Accounts of Germany's Renewables Revolution,” Rocky Mountain Institute, August 15, 2013.
17 For the prefectures, see (in Japanese) Enekyo “Driving Japan Towards a Natural Energy Future,” Natural Energy Council (Shizen Enerugii Kyougikai), November 8, 2013.
18 See Aaron Sheldrick, “In a sign of reforms to come, newcomers snap at heels of Japanese utilities,” Reuters, September 14, 2013.
19 See (in Japanese) Ishida Masaya “Solar Cell Shipments Thrice Previous Year, Utility-Use Up 10 Times to 750,000 Kilowatts,” Smart Japan, December 5, 2013.
20 See for example (in Japanese) Ishida Masaya “Energy Islands 2013 Edition: Tokushima, Planning to Break Out of 40th Place Nationwide, In the Midst of Expanding Citizen- Participation Power,” Smart Japan, December 3, 2013.
21 See (in Japanese) Kantei “Environment Model City, List of Proposals,” Japanese Government Cabinet Office (no date).
22 See (in Japanese) Ishida Masaya “Ashikaga City Advances Towards a Triad Smart City Model of Creating, Conserving and Storing Energy,” Smart Japan, April 17, 2012.
23 See (in Japanese) Hata Yoichiro “Construction Starts on a Large-Scale Smart Town: Panasonic and Mitsui Real Estate Collaborate on 100 Homes,” Smart Japan, September 24, 2013.
24 See “Sekisui House Sustainability Report 2013,” August 26, 2013, pp 23-5.
25 See “FUNABASHI MORINO CITY Wins World Smart Cities Award,” Mitsubishi Corporation Press Release, December 13, 2013.
26 One of the first observers to see this happening was Richard Samuels, in his 3.11: Disaster and Change in Japan, Cornell: 2013, p 139.
27 See (in Japanese) “Mitsubishi Heavy to set up ‘ICT Solutions Head Office” and expand smart community projects,” Nikkei BP Environmental Management Forum, December 13, 2013.
28 On these points, see Andrew DeWit “Abe, Big Data and Bad Dreams: Japan's ICT Future?” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 29, No. 2, July 29, 2013.
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