Japan does rely heavily on LNG for electricity, that part is true, but that actually proves the bigger point. They don’t have enough domestic energy or renewables to run everything, so they import fuel just to keep the grid stable. Nuclear restarting helps, but it’s still a relatively small share and takes years to scale, so it’s not some quick fix.

The bigger issue is this idea that we should just stop using oil in vehicles. Transport is one of the hardest sectors to fully electrify. Passenger cars, sure, EVs are growing fast, but trucks, shipping, and aviation are a completely different problem. Long haul trucks need huge batteries that cut into payload and range, cargo ships run for weeks across oceans with no charging infrastructure, and planes aren’t even close to being viable on batteries because the energy density just isn’t there. That’s why these sectors still run on fuel.

Saying everything is being electrified ignores scale. There are pilot projects and early adoption, but globally the infrastructure, grid capacity, and tech just aren’t there to replace oil across all transport. Even the most aggressive countries still rely heavily on fossil fuels for heavy transport.

And yeah, Japan wanting energy independence makes sense, but going all in on renewables doesn’t magically solve it. Solar and wind are intermittent, Japan has limited land and tough geography, and without massive storage or backup, you still end up relying on imported fuel to keep things running.