Energy Transition in Japan

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).

• List of ContributorsForewordKen KoyamaPreface Acknowledgements1. Searching for Smart Solutions for Energy Transition in Japan: Can One Find Them in Japanese Cities? Maciej M. Sokołowski and Fumio Shimpo2. Japan’s Smart Energy Transition: Visions and Solutions for Technology-Driven Efficient Energy Transformation Maciej M. Sokołowski and Fumio Shimpo3. Developing a Smart Tool for Integrated Climate Action Planning (ICLAP 2050) in Asia-Pacific Cities and Its Application to Japanese CitiesMahendra Sethi, Shilpi Mittal, and Aki Suwa4. 5Grids Concept as a Basis of Zero-Carbon, Decentralised and Digitalised Society Hideo Ishii and Yasuhiro Hayashi5. Sustainable Waste Management for Carbon-Neutral and Circular Economy in JapanJeongsoo Yu, Xiaoyue Liu, Tadao Tanabe, Gaku Manago, and Shiori Osanai6. E-Methane and Its Future in Japan: City Gas and Smart CitiesShinichi Kusanagi7. Could the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Contribute to the Achievement of Japan’s Net-Zero Goal in the Transport Sector? Jun Yamashita8. Central and Local Government Participation in Decentralised Smart City Development Tools as a Manifestation of Modern Methods of Administrative TasksJacek Piecha, Justyna Kamila Kanas, and Piotr Mikusek9. Smart Cities as a Sustainable Development Tool in Spatial Planning Acts of the European Union and Japan: Comparative Analysis Piotr Zieliński10. Australia Powering Japan's Energy TransitionMadeline Taylor11. Low-Carbon Transition and Energy Poverty in a Smart CitySatoshi Kurokawa12. Can Toyota’s Woven City be Considered a Smart City? Hiroshi Ito and Kazuhiko Kato13. Earth Observation for Digital Twin: Fusion of Smart City and Satellite Data for Japan’s Energy TransitionNaoko Sugita, Naoko Matsuo, Takuji Kubota, and Misako KachiIndex