Page 462 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

432 Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

TABLE 21.3 Japan’s Total Primary Energy Supply,
by Source, 2015 (Units: %)
Oil 42.9
Coal 27.5
Gas 23.3
Hydro 1.7
Other renewable 4.0
Nuclear 0.6
Adapted from IEA, 2016. Energy Policies of IEA Countries, Japan.
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/
EnergyPoliciesofIEACountriesJapan2016.pdf.

intense and damaging downpours. Thus, Japan’s typical community is on the
coast with mountains behind and is run through by plenty of short rivers that
have very steep gradients. Most Japanese communities are subject to periodic
and potentially catastrophic flooding and landslides. Japan also has unparal-
leled typhoon, earthquake, and tsunami risks (Fudeyasu, 2016).
This chapter emphasizes Japan’s hazards because Japanese state managers
do, in thousands of plans and reports (DeWit, 2014b). In addition, the hazards
are undeniable and worsening. Japan’s pragmatic, science-based public debate
also understands seismic and climate hazards. This makes the intellectual
context for climate change and smart communities very different in Japan than
it is in Anglo-America.
Disasters, aging, dependence on conventional energy, and the like all
threaten the viability of Japan’s local communities. The challenges therefore
all have a common focus. And the vulnerability of local communities un-
dermines the fiscal, administrative, and other capacities of the national com-
munity, because Japan is a unitary state with massive intergovernmental
redistribution (DeWit, 2017a).
In addition to the incentives listed so far, 3-11 hit Tokyo especially hard,
giving the capital a powerful shaking as well as protracted power outages. This
direct blow to Tokyo was in sharp contrast to previous disasters such as the
1995 earthquake that leveled much of Kobe but left Tokyo untouched
(Edgington, 2011). The threat to the capital galvanized policy entrepreneurs.
The scale of 3-11, and its energyeclimate context, has fostered impressive and
increasing policy integration in energy environmental policy, urban planning,
science and technology policy, health and welfare policy, intergovernmental
finance, and related policy domains.
The 3-11 natural and nuclear disasters led to collaborative planning,
focused on smart communities and creating a distinctively Japanese path to