Climate Politics

Energy Crisis Slams Japan as Weak Yen Sends Import Costs Surging

  • Currency’s 24-year low makes oil and gas even more expensive
  • Paper, cement producers among industries forced to hike prices
A residential building at night in Yao. Japan's government is urging residents to reduce electricity consumption as the unusual heat threatens to sap electricity supply.Photographer: Soichiro Koriyama/Bloomberg
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The slump in the Japanese yen, the war in Ukraine and a heatwave in Tokyo are pushing the world’s third-biggest economy toward a full-blown energy crisis.

Japan imports about 90% of its energy, mostly priced in dollars, and costs were already soaring from a jump in global oil, gas and coal prices, even before the yen fell to its lowest level in two decades.