One theory is that Japan's methane hydrate resources [1] give them the opportunity to become at least energy independent, if not a net energy exporter. For a t

One theory is that Japan's methane hydrate resources [1] give them the opportunity to become at least energy independent, if not a net energy exporter. For a traditionally resource-poor nation, this is an attractive prospect, but it requires the adoption of hydrogen as a fuel, so the Japanese government is strongly encouraging it. Another theory is that Toyota has done the math and decided that they can't compete with China on EVs (e.g., see [2]) and so are looking for a different game to win. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/global/japan-says-it-is-first-to-tap-methane-hydrate-deposit.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/global/japan-says... [2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/china-won-t-let-toyota-ditch-its-electric-cars http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/china-won-...