“Don’t the Land of the Rising Sun believe in solar panels for their energy supply?”
They actually do a good bit of that, and manufacture their own. Even after a big push for thirty years though, their installed capacity is about 7% of electric demand (one of the highest percentages in the world).
150 coal power stations in Japan . Yes we have solar , as well as hydroelectric , oil , gas , geothermal , and wind .
Perhaps they should become less industrious and just glide into a recession like we do. Will they bomb Pearl Harbor again to get their industry going or will they show up in El Paso border region?