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This paper focuses on the post-Great East Japan Earthquake narratives and discourses related to various types of energies currently in use in East Asia. Methodologically, interpretive study and textual analysis of collected secondary literatures, media reports as well as some policy resources was conducted. It examines the factional interests, narratives, discourses and schools of thought influencing the outcome of energy issues or decisions as they are reported in the media or trade publications. It argues that decision-makers and policy implementers are not a hegemonic singular entity but encompass many factional interests and contesting agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China''s demand for energy has grown to fuel its rapidly expanding industrial, commercial and consumer sectors. At the same time, China has become the second largest consumer of petroleum products having surpassed Japan for the first time in 2003. The environmental consequences of a continuation of these trends will have global implications. Government policies and consumers have become more environmentally aware, but the ability of governments to formulate policies has been hindered by the lack of data on inter-factor and inter-fuel substitution possibilities. In this paper Allen partial elasticities of factor and energy substitution, and price elasticities of energy demand are calculated for China''s industrial economy using a two-stage translog cost function approach for the period 1995–2004. The results suggest that energy is substitutable with both capital and labor. Coal is significantly substitutable with electricity and slightly complementary with oil, while oil and electricity are slightly substitutable. China''s energy intensity is increasing during the study period and the major driver appears to be due to the increased use of energy-intensive technology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article revisits a conventional interpretation of Sino-Japanese energy relations from geopolitical and zero-sum viewpoints. Contemporary Sino-Japanese disputes over the East China Sea and their scramble over a crude-oil pipeline from Russia have drawn global attention to the intensification of the rivalry between the two giant energy consumers. Beijing and Tokyo, however, have gradually found common interests resulting from business opportunities, environmental countermeasures, etc. Russia’s failure in driving a wedge between China and Japan, and the United States’ proactive engagement in Asia-Pacific energy issues, appear to provide new opportunities in which the East Asian powers’ energy rivalry can be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]