Japan to focus on clean energy exports

Lets hope he has the ability to do so....

Sounds good in principle but untill they sort out the excessively high yen no other country will be able to afford it.

Big ideas go nowhere unless the right economic enviroment exists.

How about first cleaning up those diesel spewing dump trucks/buses all over Japan?

Excellent move by Gemba. Japan is shifting a gear to the right direction.. Something good came out from this disaster. Thank god!

I spend a few months contacting companies offering to represent their products overseas and most came back with lines like:

Sorry, we're not interested in selling our products overseas..... We're too busy to think about that.... Sorry, nobody speaks English, so we can't handle orders.. We want so succeed in Japan first and then consider what to do.... It's too complicated....sorry....

About 60% of the companies we contacted didn't even bother to reply... Good luck....

If Japan wants to succeeds with renewable energy, they have to follow the example of northern and middle Europe. These countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany) already produce more than 20% of their entire energy consumption from renewable sources. If Japan needs a strategy, that's where they can find it. For the rest, it needs the strength of will to see it through.

And they should specialise in something where those countries in the lead are weaker - geothermal. That's where Japan can make the big money if they enforce and export it. With solar or wind they will not surpass all the others who are far more advanced already.

The right move for Japan, no question about it. Many of Japan's high-tech companies are already very competitive in this field, not just when it comes to "new energy" but also other environmental tech.

But, please please please Japan, this all rings a bit hollow unless you get people to stop IDLING!!

But, please please please Japan, this all rings a bit hollow unless you get people to stop IDLING!!

tranet, why don't you say the way it is, "get your ass moving and rock & roll, guys".

They are going to have to catch up to China. There are already a few profitable Chinese companies that are building and exporting green energy.

Due to my concerns for the welfare of my family in Japan, I welcome Mr Gemba,s statement in relation to the promotion of clean energy, and wish him, the promoters and producers of such, every success.

hurryharry

I have heard others with the same feedback for 20yrs I have been here, I have known a few foreigners that got into companies like the ones you approached, those that succeeded accounted for major percentage of sales overseas, but sadly most companies NEVER paid these foreigners for what they did.

I knew one guy who kicked major but, his company REFUSED to pay him bonuses like J-staff, he worked his butt off, got the prez to agree to translate his over time into holidays, they agreed a date to work out the math of it, day came & the prez blew him off, next day he came in & told him he was taking 4mths off because that was what he was owed.

He ditched the ingrate SOB! Within a week he had several offers for work from those he sold to overseas, went to Switzerland for a few years then, quit to build a boat & sail around the world, it was that dream that allowed him to put up with the BS he endured in Japan, but he is at least free now

Even tho I work on my own here I often envy that SOB haha

Japan ypu gotta start re-inventing yourself or the rot will just continue!!

Japan has already developed world class water purifying technology that is possibly the best in the world among all the available technologies and the world pays great interest to this matter and the Japanese technology .

Japan has a tool to realize this plan, but every great invention and idea must go along a long way until becomes an asset and I guess Japan will have to take lots of pain until she gets things right. Business, politics etc.. I know about some great Japanese inventions in the past two decades that Japan couldn't push through and they found its way to the archive. Good luck Japan at this time.

All the power to him and Japan if they can actually do it. But will this go hand in hand with Hosono's idea to spread the wealth -- err... radiation?

"Japan: Home to the most expensive clean energy available in the world".....I don't think many people will line up for this.

This is great news. Not so great to pee off the greatest Market for this technology, but still, this is the first positive news to come out of Japan for years!

I'd like him to be more specific. He did not mention any targets or methods. Solar batteries. I love those. But how many megawatts, gigawatts are in the planning?

clean energy exports

They want to focus on clean energy IMPORTS!

clean energy exports They want to focus on clean energy IMPORTS!

Excuse me?

new developments would include state-of-the-art solar batteries, which could replace nuclear reactors in the future.

Excellent idea, along with the incinerators conversion to power plants ( trash to steam ).

Clean energy, now what is Japan going to do ith all the nuclear waste that piling up. Radioactive Sludge Collects in Japan's Sewage Treatment Plants More recently, NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, conducted its own survey of 17 prefectures and says the figure for radioactive sludge has now grown to about 50 000 tons, with over 1500 tons “so contaminated that it cannot be buried for disposal.” It added that another 50 000 tons had still to be checked.

Sounds like the 35 prefectures who agreed to accept and deal with the disaster debris is already doing so, I guess it's just a matter of sotrage now.

"We have bullet trains and water." What, did Japan invent water, too? Basically it's a great idea Mr. Gemba. But instead of exporting clean energy, let's use it here, shall we? And judging from the picture, you might want to get your thyroid checked.

Exactly what which Japanese exports are produced has to do the foreign minister is beyond me. He should be trying encourage overseas foreigners to buy everything Japanese- that's a small part of his job- if there's a trade minister that's a big part of his job. Its just another useless statement by a government minister- they make these statements all the time without any clear actions that they are going to do. Of course you won't get any statements about they want employment relations reform (which pre-modern with a mess of fractional fixes- particularly finally abolish life-time employment ), how they are going to improve corporate structures (you can do it but for Japan it needs from the top down) and many other urgently required reforms. This is Japan therefore it can change just like the last two revolutions but this revolution can dwarf all the others.

Exactly what which Japanese exports are produced has to do the foreign minister is beyond me.

It's the energy sector and in the energy sector business easily becomes a political game and the game is not always as easy and harmless as it looks like.

These social reformers and think tanks formulate strategies that treat only superficial symptoms, without touching the basic social operation required. Here are some potential clean sources of energy: geothermal energy, underwater turbines and solar energy.

Look at his eyes. He looks very serious about this to me.

Great and who will design it? Him?

"We have bullet trains"

To make those and then make them run, you need oil and or nuclear plants to get electricity.

Japan's renewable energy dependancy is among the lowest in the developed world, and before Fukushima, grassroots interest was nearly zero. What makes it think it's a world leader in this field?!?

The minister, whose constituency Fukushima is at the center of the ongoing atomic crisis, said new developments would include state-of-the-art solar batteries, which could replace nuclear reactors in the future.

Hmm...State-of-the-art? So we're going to be covering a large percentage (10%) of the flat land in the Japanese Archipelago with Solar Panels? That's what it'd take to replace the current nuclear generators - and that's without the expensive power storage that would be needed to cope with things like rainy and typhoon season. The last month in Yamagata was around 50% overcast - good luck getting half a months energy stored for a reasonable cost...

Keep dreaming. Six months ago Japan was going to be the leader in exporting nuclear technology. Then Mother Nature intervened, and Japan was shown to be a fraud in this area, especially as it came to safety. The same will happen here. As usual, Japan's inward focus will be its undoing. Like mobile phones.