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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Canada consolidates LNG supply line until nuclear energy is brought back on-line
2 October 2013
(CRC)—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Canada recently in order to alleviate Japan’s dependency on Middle East oil and natural gas. According to Susumu Fukuda, Japan’s consul general in Calgary, ’Over 92% of the oil is imported from the Middle East and other Asian countries. So Canada is a very important possibility to promote diversification of natural ressources.’ The September 25 issue of the National Post reports the consul general as saying that Japan is already a big investor in Australia’s LNG business, but that Canada is Japan’s next prefered location, ahead of the United States, where energy exports are seen as more complicated. According to columnist Claudia Cattaneo ( Japan Inc. Means business in Canada ), the Japanese prime minister would have told reporters in Ottawa that Canada and Japan had agreed to co-operate more closely on natural gas and had praised Canada as a stable source that can provide natural gas at competitive prices. Cattaneo goes on to list a few of Japan’s joint venture investments in Canada’s energy sector over the last two years by such Japan corporate giants as Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Inpex, Japan Petroleum Exploration, Idemitsu Kosan Co., etc. While the article is informative as to the specific deals and joint LNG projects that have occured, the article is misconstrued as it misses the bigger picture when it assumes that nuclear energy is now permanently shut down in Japan after Fukushima and assumes that this would be of no major consequences for Japan or the world. The reality, obscured by the major media, is that Prime Minister Abe has abandoned all talk of phasing out nuclear power in Japan (which accounts for 30% of the country’s energy), a stance that is supported by a majority of Japanese citizens. Japan Without Nuclear Energy Is a Disaster for the World is the title of an article by Ramtanu Maitra, in the latest issue of Executive Intelligence Review, which sets the record straight on Japan’s new prime minister’s commitment to reopen nuclear plants in his country and the strategic importance of that move for the world. The Maitra article also explains the disastruous trade deficits that have now occured in Japan as a result of the present situation with all the nuclear reactors in the country presently being off-line. Maitra also discusses Japan’s present reliance on imported oil and gas having now surged from about 60% of energy consumption to about 85%. Canada’s trade with Japan should prioritize 1) more exports of uranium and nuclear isotopes to Japan and encourage Japan to continue advanced nuclear fission and fusion research and 2) take advantage of Japan’s present expertise and unique nuclear capabilities which should be in great demand as Canada gets ready to launch, with the United States, a nuclear renaissance brought about by the construction of the continental NAWAPA XXI project in conjunction with future Bering Strait tunnel. |