The Energy Transition in Japan: Smart Cities and Smart Solutions

This book offers a distinctive and comprehensive view of the energy transition of Japan, with a particular focus on the rise of smart cities.

Drawing on real examples from Japan’s journey towards carbon neutrality, this volume examines a variety of topics ranging from laws and policies to technological and managerial solutions, discussing them in the context of Japan’s energy transition. Among the issues covered by the book are climate action planning, sustainable waste management, energy poverty, decarbonisation, e-methane, transport policies, and smart grids. The book also explores the regulatory tools that either support or hinder the development of smart cities in Japan, and how Japan can leverage its national solutions globally. In this way, this book serves as a guide for global climate action and energy transitions around the world.

Focusing on both stories of success and lessons learned, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of energy transitions, climate action, smart cities, as well as Asian and Japanese studies more broadly.

Maciej M. Sokołowski, PhD, DSc, is a Specially Appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management of Keio University, also affiliated with the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. Professor Sokołowski has extensive experience in energy law and the energy sector; he has authored 100 papers and reports, including three solo books on energy regulation, combined heat and power, and the energy transition. Professor Sokołowski is a fellow of several institutions and networks, including the Sustainability College Bruges, the SI Network for Future Global Leaders, the Polish Electricity Association, the Australian Network for Japanese Law, the Japan Association of EU Studies, and the Japan Society of Public Utility Economics. Professor Sokołowski is also a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, being responsible for Chapter 4: “How to Facilitate and Accelerate Change”. He has been awarded numerous distinctions, including the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, the Swedish Institute Visby Programme scholarship, and the Prime Minister of Poland’s Research Award. In 2024, Professor Sokołowski was named one of Stanford University’s “World’s Top 2% Scientists”.

Fumio Shimpo, PhD, is Professor of Law at the Faculty of Policy Management of Keio University. Professor Shimpo is an active scholar in the fields of data protection, privacy, information law, AI, and robot law in Japan. He serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Association of Law and Information Systems, the Executive Director of the Japanese Constitutional Law Society, a Board Member of the Japan Society of Information and Communication Research, the Director of the Law and Computer Society, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Information and Communications Policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. He was previously the Commissioner for International Academic Exchange at the Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan (2018–2023) and the former Vice-Chair of the OECD Working Party on Security and Privacy in the Digital Economy (2009–2016).