[JR: Thanks. I heard that. Will update.]

http://www.newsy.com/ videos/ a_democratic_party_in_japan

The Japanese people are seriously concerned about ongoing climate change and have a hard time believing that there are any honest climate science “skeptics” (as opposed to policy skeptics) in the U.S. Japan continues to experience crazy weather phenomena, such as increasingly heavy and sudden rain events, which are proving to be killers and very costly, and even tornadoes, which have not been recorded before. So there is considerable public support on this issue – but for the bad economy.

Japan`s economy, already the most energy-efficient in the world (in part because much industrial production has been outsourced), continues to be in the doldrums, so carbon cuts will be more painful here than elsewhere. If cap and trade is the chosen course, this would further dampen domestic industry. Given the enormous government debt and looming pension shortfalls, the government has little leeway to subsidize new technology. If the DPJ were smart, they might decide that carbon taxes make more sense, as the government has looming fiscal needs; I suspect this will sorely tempt them. There is also considerable room for improvement in consumer power demand, that could be gained by making “smart meters” and marginal cost pricing available to consumers.

Contrary to Matt Dernoga, I think that because China is immediately upstream of Japan and much of China`s polluted air falls on Japan, the Japanese feel pressure to get the Copenhagen process moving, so that the Chinese will feel the need to control their carbon emissions sooner – and to buy more efficient (and costly) control technology from Japan.

“[I can't imagine the climate target played much of a role in the election, given how badly the economy was doing, but I'd welcome any comments from people who know Japanese politics.]”

That would probably be James Annan.

http://julesandjames.blogspot.com/

- Already in 1990, Japan was the world most energy efficient nation in the world.
- Unlike the US Japan is an exporter of energy intensive products. For this reason, a substantial share of its emissions stems from the consumption of such products abroad.
- Japan does not have nationally a large and cheap potential for CO2 emission reductions.

To match this level of effort, the US would have to reduce emissions by 30% compared to 1990 and the EU by 30% compared to 2005 (to discount for the central European “hot air” from the post communist era).