¹ Nicholas Stern, Why Are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling Climate Change, MIT Press: 2015

² On this, see Andrew DeWit, “Are Asia's Energy Choices Limited to Coal Gas or Nuclear?” Japan Focus, July 1 2016 Volume 14 Issue 13 Number 5: http://apjjf.org/2016/13/DeWit.html

³ Unless otherwise noted, all population figures for the cities and prefecture are current to June 1, 2016 and taken from (in Japanese) “Prefectural population totals and vital statistics (by cities, towns and villages),” Kagoshima Prefecture Planning Division Statistics Section, June, 2016: http://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ac09/tokei/bunya/jinko/suikei/documents/52564_20160617161559-1.pdf

⁴ On the dire circumstances of Japan's regions, see OECD Territorial Reviews: Japan 2016, esp. 191-7

⁵ See (in Japanese) “Japan's Ageing Seen in Statistics,” Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Statistics Bureau, September 20, 2015: http://www.stat.go.jp/data/topics/topi900.htm

⁶ See the relevant figures (in Japanese) in Hioki City's “Population Vision” and “Local Revitalization Strategy,” November 11, 2015: http://www.city.hioki.kagoshima.jp/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2081

⁷ On the vulnerability of the elderly, see Michelle Annette Meyer, “Why Disaster Management Should Center on the Elderly – and How to Make it Happen,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, December 3, 2014: http://journal.georgetown.edu/why-disaster-management-should-center-on-the-elderly-and-how-to-make-it-happen/

⁸ See (in Japanese) the October 14, 2015 Kagoshima Bank press release on the project: http://www.kagin.co.jp/library/pdf_release/newsh271015_010.pdf

⁹ For the details on the Hioki Hydro Power Promotion Association, see (in Japanese): http://hioki-shousuikyo.com/info.html

¹⁰ On Hioki Local Energy Corporation's power sales project, see (in Japanese): https://www.hiokienergy.jp

¹¹ See (in Japanese) Mayor Miyaji's “Greeting on the Occasion of Taking Office,” Hioki City Mayor's Office, May, 2013: http://www.city.hioki.kagoshima.jp/modules/content/index.php?id=7

¹² For the list of projects, see: http://www.nepc.or.jp/topics/pdf/160221/160221_1.pdf

¹³ For the METI description of the programme, see (in Japanese): http://www.meti.go.jp/main/yosan/yosan_fy2016/pr/e/e_shoshin_taka_07.pdf

¹⁴ On this approach, see Andrew DeWit,“ Japan's Bid to Become a World Leader in Renewable Energy”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 39, No. 2, October 5, 2015: http://apjjf.org/-Andrew-DeWit/4385

¹⁵ On the MIC subsidy, see (in Japanese): https://www.chiikinogennki.soumu.go.jp/chiiki/files/bosyuuyouryou.pdf

¹⁶ An up-to-date (as of March 4, 2016) listing of Japan's cogeneration-related subsidy programmes is available here (in Japanese): http://www.ace.or.jp/web/law/pdf/law_aux/Auxiliary_hosei20160308.pdf

¹⁷ See the list (in Japanese), current to April 1, 2016, at: https://www.jimin.jp/policy/policy_topics/energy/131871.html

¹⁸ On this, see (in Japanese) “Using the 15 million households' worth of heat energy buried in the cities,” Nikkei Smart City Consortium, January 30, 2015: http://bizgate.nikkei.co.jp/smartcity/technology/001873.html

¹⁹ The MLIT subsidy for waste-heat recovery from sewerages is (in Japanese), available at: http://jimin.ncss.nifty.com/pdf/policy_topics/energy/2016/131871_27.pdf

²⁰ On this initiative, see (in Japanese) “The Initiative for Despatching Advisors to Assist in Proposals for Waste-Heat Recovery From Sewerages,” Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, June 1, 2015: http://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/mizukokudo13_hh_000270.html

²¹ See for example, Alireza Aram, Todd Price, and Takehiro Uesugi, “Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City: Resilient, Energy-efficient Smart City Model,” IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter, August 2015: http://smartgrid.ieee.org/newsletters/august-2015/kashiwa-no-ha-smart-city-resilient-energy-efficient-smart-city-model

²² Sekisui describes its project in Miyagi Prefecture's Higashimatsushima, which officially started operations on June 12, 2016, as Japan's first community microgrid, an application that links public facilities and residences in an energy system that is not reliant on the FIT. See (in Japanese) “Operations Commence at Higashimatsushima smart disaster-resilient eco-town,” Sekisui House News Release, June 13, 2016: https://www.sekisuihouse.co.jp/company/topics/datail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2016/06/13/20160613.pdf

²³ For example, the Hioki and other smart community projects (such as Satsumaisendai) are not mentioned in the Metropolitan Tokyo EcoNet Tokyo 62 March 2016 revised guideline on constructing smart communities: http://all62.jp/saisei/index.html

²⁴ For the list of organizations and the activities, see: http://peoplespowernetwork.jimdo.com

²⁵ The data are available (in Japanese) at the METI Agency for Natural Resources and Energy Website: http://www.fit.go.jp/statistics/public_sp.html

²⁶ The figure is translated from p. 6 of (in Japanese) Concerning the Direction of Measures Towards Expanding the Deployment of Renewable Power,“ METI Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, June 2016: http://www.meti.go.jp/committee/sougouenergy/kihonseisaku/saisei_kanou/pdf/009_02_00.pdf

²⁷ On the factors underlying cost differences between Japan and Germany, see Kimura Keiji and Romain Zissler, “Comparing Prices and Costs of Solar PV in Japan and Germany: The Reasons Why Solar PV is more Expensive in Japan,” Renewable Energy Institute, March 2016: https://www.renewable-ei.org/en/images/pdf/20160331/JREF_Japan_Germany_solarpower_costcomparison_en.pdf

²⁸ See (in Japanese) p. 3, “Power Surcharges Since the Adoption of the FIT,” in “Concerning Reform for Promoting Deployment of Renewable Energy,” METI Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, February 2016: http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/committee/council/basic_policy_subcommittee/020/pdf/020_007.pdf

²⁹ See (in Japanese), p. 12 “Power Price Levels,” METI Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, November 18, 2015: http://www.meti.go.jp/committee/sougouenergy/denryoku_gas/kihonseisaku/pdf/002_04_02.pdf

³⁰ On this, see Andy Colthorpe, “NEC-supplied storage system targets Japan's solar curtailment rules,” PV Tech, April 22, 2016: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/nec-supplied-storage-system-targets-japans-solar-curtailment-rules

³¹ An up-to-date (as of March 4, 2016) listing of Japan's “Net Zero Energy Home” and “Net Zero Energy Building” subsidy programmes is available here (in Japanese): http://www.ace.or.jp/web/law/pdf/law_aux/Auxiliary_hosei20160308.pdf

³² See “International District Energy Association and Microgrid Resources Coalition announce merger to promote wider adoption of microgrids,” May 18, 2015: http://www.districtenergy.org/blog/2016/05/18/international-district-energy-association-and-microgrid-resources-coalition-announce-merger-to-promote-wider-adoption-of-microgrids/

³³ On this, see Elisa Wood, “Hitachi Moves into the North America Microgrid Market with 100-Year Plan,” Microgrid Knowledge, December 17, 2015: https://microgridknowledge.com/hitachi-north-america-microgrid/

³⁴ The AES Center's list of partners is here: https://aes.ssr.titech.ac.jp/partner

³⁵ These ambitions are succinctly described by Kashiwagi Takao in the AES Center Annual Digest, “AES News,” Spring 2015-Winter 2016: http://aes.ssr.titech.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/download/pdf/AES_Annual_Eng_2015-2016.pdf

³⁶ For a review of Kashiwagi's arguments on the crucial role of local governments, see Andrew DeWit Andrew DeWit, “Japan's Radical Energy Technocrats: Structural Reform Through Smart Communities, the Feed-in Tariff and Japanese-Style ‘Stadtwerke‘”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 48, No. 2, December 1, 2014: http://apjjf.org/2014/12/48/Andrew-DeWit/4229.html

³⁷ See, for example, (in Japanese) Kashiwagi Takao “Towards Achieving Both Economic Development and Environmental Countermeasures: The Smart City Perspective,” New Era Vol 71, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, September 2010: http://www.mlit.go.jp/kokudokeikaku/iten/service/newsletter/i_02_71_1.html

³⁸ See (in Japanese) “Okayama Symposium on Building Future Environmental Cities,” Shun Rupo, Chugoku METI, December 2010: http://www.chugoku.meti.go.jp/info/densikoho/22fy/h2212/miraitoshi.pdf

³⁹ Some press coverage focused on the use of the phrase “balanced national development” (kokudo no kintou aru hatten) as a signal of the recrudescence of massive and wasteful public works, while ignoring the role of energy and smart communities. For example, see (in Japanese) Azumi Akiko “That Phrase Resurfaces in the National Spatial Plan,” Toyo Keizai Online, July 22, 2015: http://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/77842

⁴⁰ One telling example of this phenomenon is that the Nikkei business daily newspaper has carried only 9 articles on microgrids over the year up to July 27, 2016.

⁴¹ There is an abundant specialist literature on these plans in Japanese, especially among the research institutions that work in spatial planning, infrastructure, and related areas. In English, the most recent work is Sugahara, Masaru and Leslie Bermont (2016), “Energy and Resilient Cities”, OECD Regional Development Working Papers, 2016/05, OECD Publishing, Paris: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jlwj0rl3745-en

⁴² On these policymakers and their initiatives, see Andrew DeWit “Japan's Bid to Become a World Leader in Renewable Energy,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 39, No. 2, October 5, 2015: http://www.japanfocus.org/-Andrew-DeWit/4385/article.html

⁴³ See pp. 79-80 of OECD Territorial Reviews: Japan 2016, 2016/04, OECD Publishing, Paris

⁴⁴ The National Spatial Strategies and related documents are available (in Japanese), at the MLIT website: http://www.mlit.go.jp/kokudoseisaku/kokudokeikaku_fr3_000003.html

⁴⁵ See (in Japanese) pp. 10-15 in Kashiwagi Takao, Smart Communities: A Smart Network Design for Local Government Infrastructure, October 15, 2014,Jihyo: http://www.jihyo.co.jp/smart_community5.html

⁴⁶ See pp. 48-9, in Nicholas Stern, Why Are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling Climate Change, MIT Press: 2015

⁴⁷ A brief English-language outline of the process is available at “Building National Resilience: Creating a Strong and Flexible Country,” National Resilience Promotion Office, Cabinet Secretariat, Japan, nd: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/en/e01_panf.pdf

⁴⁸ See the Cabinet Secretariat's National Resilience Council's website: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/resilience/

⁴⁹ See (in Japanese) Nakazato Kousei, “National Resilience Begins, with the Passage of the Basic Law,” Daiwa Institute of Research, December 13, 2013: http://www.dir.co.jp/research/report/capital-mkt/20131213_008009.pdf

⁵⁰ The particulars concerning this committee's membership and its deliberations are available (in Japanese) at: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kyoujinka/index.html

⁵¹ The list is available here: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/kondankai.html

⁵² The workshop overview and presentation materials (some in English) is available here: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/workshop/h260707.html

⁵³ On this, see (in Japanese) “Prefectures publishing their regional plans for National Resilience,” National Resilience Promotion Office, Cabinet Secretariat, Japan, June 9, 2016: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/pdf/map2.pdf

⁵⁴ The web site for the OECD study is here: http://www.oecd.org/japan/oecdreviewsofriskmanagementpoliciesjapan.htm

⁵⁵ See (in Japanese) Igarashi Takayoshi, “Criticism of National Resilience: The ”Future Model“ that Public Works Ought to be Aimed at,” Iwanami Booklet No. 833, October 4, 2013.

⁵⁶ A list of the plans referencing the NRP can be found on pp. 145-6 of (in Japanese) National Resilience Action Plan, 2016, National Resilience Promotion Office, Cabinet Secretariat, Japan, 2016: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/pdf/ap2016.pdf

⁵⁷ The website of the Association for National Resilience is here: http://www.resilience-jp.org

⁵⁸ The website of the Association for National Resilience working groups is here: http://www.resilience-jp.org/wg/

⁵⁹ See Andrew DeWit, “Japan's ‘National Resilience’ and the Legacy of 3-11,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 6, No. 1, March 15, 2016: http://apjjf.org/2016/06/DeWit.html

⁶⁰ See (in Japanese), “Concerning the size and estimates for the private-sector market in national resilience,” February 1, 2016, Cabinet Secretariat's National Resilience Council, p. 5: http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/resilience/dai24/siryo2-3.pdf

⁶¹ On the public-sector spending, see Andrew DeWit, “Japan's ”National Resilience Plan“: Its Promise and Perils in the Wake of the Election”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 51, No. 1, December 22, 2014: http://apjjf.org/2014/12/51/Andrew-DeWit/4240.html

⁶² See (in Japanese), Furuya Keiji, “National Resilience: the Challenges of Transitioning to a Resilient Society,” June 2014, PHP Books, pp. 157-70.

⁶³ For a comparison the scale of the threats confronting Tokyo, see the last section of Andrew DeWit, “Japan's Resilient, Decarbonizing and Democratic Smart Communities”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 50, No. 3, December 15, 2014: http://apjjf.org/2014/12/50/Andrew-DeWit/4236.html

⁶⁴ See Toyama City Planning Division population data for the end of June, 2016: http://www.city.toyama.toyama.jp/kikakukanribu/johotokeika/tokei/jinkosetai/jinkosetai.html

⁶⁵ See “Governance: Compact cities: the way of the future,” OECD, June 13, 2012: http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/governancecompactcitiesthewayofthefuture.htm

⁶⁶ On this, see (in Japanese) the figure on p. 3 of “Explanatory Materials: the Fixed Assets Tax,” Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, October 27, 2015: http://www.cao.go.jp/zei-cho/gijiroku/zeicho/2015/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2015/10/26/27zen25kai7.pdf

⁶⁷ On this “compact city” role of the LAT, see (in Japanese) “A compendium of support measures related to the construction of compact cities,” Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, October 18, 2015: http://www.mlit.go.jp/toshi/city_plan/toshi_city_plan_tk_000027.html

⁶⁸ On this, see (in Japanese) Satoshi Sakamoto “Special Depreciation,” presentation to Japanese Tax Research Centre, October 19, 2015.

⁶⁹ For a listing of the items included in energy and environmental special tax measures, see (in Japanese) “Special Tax Measures Law, Tax Deductions”: http://www.zeiken.co.jp/25kaisei/soz1-3.html

⁷⁰ See p. 8, 11 in “The State of City Climate Finance 2015,” Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, December 4, 2015: http://www.citiesclimatefinance.org/2015/12/the-state-of-city-climate-finance-2015-2/

⁷¹ See p. 2 “Better Growth, Better Climate: The New Climate Economy Report, Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, 2014: http://newclimateeconomy.report/2014/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/New-climate-economy_executive-summary_web.pdf