Record oil prices have spurred a national debate in the United States over how to become more energy independent and efficient. Cities and states throughout the country have taken bold steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. California has taken the lead, pledging to make an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have gone well beyond Kyoto Protocol benchmarks to promise the same. As policy makers throughout the state ask themselves how to meet these goals, one place to look for answers is across the Pacific Ocean to Japan, largely recognized as the most energy efficient country in the world. As an Abe Fellow, I would report on the lessons California and the greater United States can learn from Japan’s progressive energy policies. Public radio’s strict formatting requirements mean I’ll have to break these lessons down into three separate feature-length stories: The first, what the US can learn from the role of Japan’s government in changing energy consumer habits; the second, how California can make solar power more consumer-friendly by using Japan’s model; the third, what the US can learn from Japan’s growing dependence on imported natural gas. Together, these reports will tell one, cohesive story to listeners of both KQED’s The California Report and National Public Radio about the lengths the Japanese have gone to in order to make their country more energy efficient, and what our country can learn from their experience.Together, these programs attract 29 million independent listeners per week.