Japan’s Geoeconomic Strategy to Secure the Supply of Rare Earth Elements
The global energy transition has shifted the strategic dependence of industrialized countries away from fossil fuels toward critical minerals, particularly rare earth elements (REE). Japan, the world's largest REE importer, faces a dilemma because China dominates global REE processing, controlling more than 92% of capacity. This study analyzes how Japan secured its REE supply through geoeconomic policy during 2018-2025, using Blackwill and Harris's (2016) framework of seven geoeconomic instruments. The method employed was qualitative descriptive, with a single case study design and document analysis as the primary data collection technique. The findings show that only the investment policy instrument is explicitly documented during the period studied. This investment policy has been carried out through the state institution Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) across three projects: Lynas Rare Earths (Australia), the Lofdal Project (Namibia), and Caremag SAS (France). This study also finds that Japan's investment model is a variant in which the state converts financial capital into contractual claims over strategic supply to manage structural dependence, rather than using it to project power over the recipient country. In addition, Japan's investment policy provides REE supply-chain options outside China's capacity.
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