Most people know that Japan is a country cursed with considerable seismic activity; frequent, and very occasionally devastating, earthquakes and tsunamis are a fact of life – and death. Less well known is the blessing the country’s position along the Ring of Fire brings – or potentially brings: abundant geothermal energy.

It is estimated that Japan’s geothermal resources, a sort of natural subterranean cauldron, could meet 10 per cent of the country’s energy needs. At the moment though, geothermal makes up just 0.3 per cent of energy consumed, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This makes it a massively, and some would say bizarrely, underexploited resource for a country that relies so heavily on imported fossil fuels (90 per cent of the country’s energy supply).

The Japanese won’t hear a word against the sacred onsen and believe it to be an integral part of life

So why not exploit this natural bounty? Well, unlike the situation with fracking in the UK, safety concerns (well-founded or hysterical depending on your point of view) are not the issue. Instead, it is a combination of a centuries-old traditional lifestyle and healthcare custom elevated to almost sacramental status and small – and not so small – business interests that has kept a promising source of power largely untapped.

Japan has an........

© The Spectator