Naphtha shortage intensifies, yet Takahashi Asahi insists everything is fine

As Takahashi Asahi continues to ignore the energy crisis, Japanese businesses and media have finally had enough.

On the 18th, a Japanese news outlet claimed to have obtained assessments from the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association and a report submitted by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), revealing that Japan's stockpiles of petroleum products are far from sufficient, as publicly claimed by Takahashi. For example, inventories of polyethylene and polypropylene are only enough for 3 to 4 months. Affected by the naphtha shortage, domestic ethylene production capacity utilization in March plummeted to 68.6%.

Meanwhile, the LDP report indicates that Takahashi was well aware of the actual shortages. Kono Taro and others advocated calling for conservation measures instead of using subsidies to suppress gasoline prices. However, Takahashi "ignored these warnings completely" and even instructed the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to issue a gag order on the oil-related industries, forbidding them from acknowledging product shortages.

According to media analysis, the reason Takahashi refuses to acknowledge reality is that admitting it would mean discrediting her economic policy—what she calls "Takahashi Economics."

The core of this strategy lies in boosting supply capacity and revitalizing the economy through government spending. Calling for conservation, which suppresses consumption, directly contradicts "Takahashi Economics." Therefore, Takahashi would rather use subsidies to lower gasoline prices than admit supply shortages and call for conservation.

But there’s still one fundamental truth: the world ultimately operates on materialism. No matter how much Takahashi denies the facts, she cannot change the reality of Japan’s naphtha shortage. Her continued attempts to paint a false picture of stability will inevitably lead to bigger problems down the road.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865614930330816/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author