Japan hungry for more Canadian energy, new envoy says

Japan hungry for more Canadian energy, new envoy says STEVEN CHASE SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER PUBLISHED 44 MINUTES AGO Open this photo in gallery: Japan's Ambassador to Canada Masashi Nakagome says Japan is keen on buying more energy from Canada as part of its efforts to boost its economic security. DAVE CHAN/THE GLOBE AND MAIL COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Japan is keen to buy more energy from Canada and particularly welcomes the fact that there is no possible bottleneck such as the Strait of Hormuz that could thwart Canadian petroleum from reaching Asian shores, its new envoy said. “Between Japan and Canada, there is no choke point,” Masashi Nakagome said in an interview, citing narrow passages including Asia’s Strait of Malacca, the main shipping route between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. The ambassador signalled, like his predecessor, that Japanese businesses are watching Canada-U.S. trade negotiations in hopes that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is renewed because investments including in this country’s auto sector are premised on preferential access to the U.S. market. “For any companies, not just Japanese companies, predictability is very important, and so we are hoping that we could see more predictability in the future,” he said of Canadian trade relations with the United States. Asia crucial to Canada’s diversification from U.S., energy industry report says He said Japan is keen on buying more energy from Canada as part of its efforts to boost its economic security. Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. is a 15-per-cent joint-venture partner in the LNG Canada project that began shipping liquefied natural gas to Asia in June, 2025. It’s expected Japan will play a role in the potential Phase 2 expansion of LNG Canada. Japan also buys coal and oil from Canada as well as uranium. In addition, Japan is a major export market for Canadian propane via shipments from Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd. In 2024, AltaGas’s shipments made up 24 per cent of the Japanese propane market – all of which is imported. Its market share there dropped to 11 per cent in 2025 after a China-U.S. trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump boosted Chinese demand for non-U.S. propane and AltaGas product was diverted there instead. Canada in the summer signed on as an observer to the Global Combat Air Programme, a joint initiative by Britain, Japan and…