Reorganization, Deregulation, and Liberalization: Postwar Development of the Japanese Electric Power Industry and Its Change after 11 March 2011

The reform of Japan’s electric power industry after the Fukushima nuclear accident is, despite public expectations for the shutdown or reduction of nuclear power, placing more emphasis on liberalizing the industry. This essay tries to show that the present reform is a revival of the government’s liberalization plan that emerged in the mid-1990s and was aborted around 2003 since the power companies hinted that further deregulation might discourage them from following the government’s nuclear policy. The Fukushima accident changed the balance of power—political, not electric—between them and allowed the government to implement its long-cherished reform plan.