Japan Aff Michigan
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Energy Independence GoodKan will focus on energy independence and renewable energy for APEC & Japan Rowley, 6/17 (6/17/10, Anthony, The Business Times Singapore, “Japan to present energy policy at Apec meeting; Its long-term vision is to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and develop alternatives”, http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T9628938283&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T9628938294&cisb=22_T9628938293&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=11432&docNo=12) JAPAN will put forward a long-term vision for energy security when energy ministers from the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (Apec) gather in Japan's Fukui prefecture this weekend. The meeting comes as Japan and China along with India and others emerge as major consumers of energy alongside major Western economies. The short-term emphasis will be on guarding against possible supply interruptions affecting oil or gas that could threaten economic growth. But the longer-term objective is to find 'practical ways' of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and developing alternative energy sources, an official of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti) said. 'Japan will propose a long-term vision for energy security' to its Apec partners, the official said at a briefing. The task facing the energy ministers is how to solve the 'trilemma' of balancing energy demand, economic growth and protecting the environment - or the 'Three E's', he added. The official spoke after Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet signed off on Meti's 2101 Energy White Paper which commits Japan to a new energy policy that will stress the need for a broad vision of energy security, including a greatly increased focus on renewable energy sources. This will also be the theme of Apec ministers' discussions because it is increasingly recognised that competition for oil and gas and other fossil fuels among Apec's advanced and merging economies can only lead to high and volatile prices along with reduced energy security, officials said. 'All Apec members are trying to diversify dependence from the Middle East,' they pointed out. Japan is especially sensitive in this regard, because of the large number of 'choke points' or vulnerable waterways through which oil and gas have to pass en-route to Japan. Japan's self-sufficiency ratio for primary energy, at 18 per cent of total supplies (the same as that of South Korea), is one of the lowest in Apec and compares with 72 per cent in the US and 96 per cent in China's case. But all Apec members have an interest in exploring alternative energy sources, officials say. The Meti White Paper cites as possible supply threats 'political and military situations, crude oil embargoes, stopping of gas delivery via pipelines, resource nationalism, levies, export regulations and a scramble for resources among consuming countries'. Under the Japanese government's 'new energy policy', Japan itself will aim to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels from 70 per cent to 30 per cent between now and the year 2030 and raise its supply of energy from alternative sources by a corresponding amount, according to Meti. This will involve major new investment in nuclear power, involving building nine new reactors by 2020 and 14 by 2030 while also stepping up the 'operability' of all reactors existing and planned, officials say. At the same time, Japan will launch a more aggressive 'energy diplomacy', aimed in particular at securing uranium supplies from Central Asian countries for the stepped up nuclear programme. By virtue of this programme, Japan aims to raise its 'energy independence ratio' - meaning the supply of domestically produced (hydro and other) energy plus independently explored resources elsewhere - from the current level of 38 per cent to 77 per cent over time. Kan Economy Plan GoodKan will solve the economy: jobs, green tech, health care, tourism, and ties to Asia Zeller 6/17 (6/17/10, Frank, AFP, “Japan Growth Plan Bets on Green-Tech, Health, and Tourism”, http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iiT2pVoWNN0koXVKXBbjU0IYVYOw) TOKYO — Japan, battling to revive its economy, on Friday pledged to create five million jobs through a 10-year growth strategy centred on green technology, health care, tourism and closer links with Asia. The centre-left government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who took office last week, has pledged to end two decades of stagnation in Asia's biggest economy and achieve stable real economic growth above 2.0 percent a year. In the short term, the government aims to beat deflation by late fiscal 2011 and boost weak demand while bringing unemployment down from about five percent now to below four percent soon and then down to three percent. Japan is also eyeing lowering the corporate tax rate, from an effective 40 percent now to the average level of major industrialised nations, which is around 25 percent, possibly from fiscal 2011, the strategy paper says. Kan, a former left-wing activist who most recently served as finance minister, has promised a "third way" approach for the economy, which is expected to slip behind China soon to global number three spot. The premier has identified the "first way" as the heavy infrastructure spending of the 1980s and 90s, much of it pork-barrel projects that drove up public debt and left many "white elephant" projects of dubious economic value. Kan has also rejected as the "second way" the "excessive market fundamentalism" of former premier Junichiro Koizumi which aimed to slim down government but also weakened social safety and widened income disparities. In a speech last week, Kan outlined his "third way" policies -- an ambitious approach that would strengthen domestic demand and jobs while also boosting the social security system and reducing the public fiscal deficit. Kan has pledged to reduce the world's biggest public debt mountain, which is nearing 200 percent of GDP, and has warned of the risk of a Greece-style meltdown for Japan if the problem is left unaddressed. He has said the DPJ would call for a full debate on tax reform and did not rule out the possibility of doubling the five percent sales tax. His party, in an election manifesto released Thursday, pledged to slice the country's public deficit in half or less by the year to March 2016, with a longer term ambition of eliminating it by fiscal 2020. Japan -- with an ageing and shrinking population -- already collects less than half the taxes it needs to cover its spending. In order to revitalise the economy, the government wants to focus on core areas, including "green innovation", which it estimates will create 1.5 million jobs, and health care, which would generate 2.8 million jobs. More growth would come through strengthening ties with booming Asia, which is already the key market for Japanese exports, and selling technology from renewable energy innovations to Shinkansen bullet trains abroad. Growing tourism from less than 10 million annual visitors now to 25 million by 2020 -- in part by easing visa regulations for Chinese and by increasing 'medical tourism -- is expected to boost Japan and many of its regions, creating more than half a million jobs, according to the strategy. Kan, riding high in opinion polls ahead of July 11 upper house elections, seems to have public support for his approach, said Thomas Berger, associate professor of International Relations at Boston University. "Faced with a budget deficit of epic proportions, the new prime minister has made putting Japan's fiscal house in order his number one priority," he said. "Encouragingly, public opinion data suggests that the Japanese public is prepared to contemplate tax increases and budget cuts if it can reduce the risk of a Greek-style economic meltdown." "Public opinion data also suggests the Japanese public believes Japan has the latent economic and technological resources to pull off a comeback." Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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