23/12/2022, 10:06 am Electricity Industry in Japan Page 1 of 18 http://www.herinst.org/sbeder/privatisation/japan.html#.Y6Tizy8RpUM Conclusion: The Japanese Situation Sharon Beder Citation: New conclusion for the Japanese edition of Power Play: The Fight to Control the World’s Electricity (../Books/power.html), Soshisha Ltd, Japan, 2006. This is a final version submitted for publication. Minor editorial changes may have subsequently been made. Sharon Beder's Other Publications (../index.html) Tweet Share 58 The Japanese electricity industry is currently being gradually deregulated in the hopes that high electricity prices can be reduced. At the same time the government is keen to encourage more use of nuclear power. It is aiming to reuse nuclear fuel in order to close the nuclear fuel cycle and thereby reduce Japan’s reliance on imports to fuel electricity generation.[1] However deregulation in other parts of the world has not brought prices down, nor has it been conducive to investment in nuclear power. More importantly, the competitive pressures encouraged by deregulation do not encourage reliability and safety, issues which are very important to the Japanese people, particularly in the wake of a series of nuclear accidents over the past decade. History During the early part of the 20 Century some 700 electricity companies were set up in Japan. These were merged after the first world war into just five. During the second world war the government combined these five into one generating company, Nihon Hassoden KK, and nine distribution companies. Electricity infrastructure was badly damaged during the war but electricity production accelerated again after the war. [2] Like 3 th