This article was written by Steven Chase and was published in the Globe & Mail on November 13, 2025.
Asian country says it is eager to tap back its reliance on Russian LNG, is looking to buy resources from what Carney calls an ‘energy superpower’
Japan is eager to buy more Canadian liquefied natural gas as it works to reduce its dependence on Russian imports, a senior official with its Foreign Ministry says.
Toshihiro Kitamura, director-general for press and public diplomacy at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said energy security is one of the top priorities in relations with Canada.
He noted that Prime Minister Mark Carney is now marketing the country as an “energy superpower.”
He said Japan is also interested in buying more critical minerals from Canada including lithium and graphite, both key ingredients for electric-vehicle battery production.
Mr. Kitamura said Japan is trying to reduce its reliance on Russia for liquefied natural gas because of sanctions on petroleum sold by Moscow. The spokesman himself was slapped with an entry ban by Russia this month as the Kremlin expanded retaliation against Japan for its enforcement of sanctions on Russian products.
He said Japan has cut its oil imports from Russia to zero and reduced its coal purchases by 90 per cent. Japan still imports energy from Russia’s Sakhalin Island, however.
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. Mr. Kitamura said the Japanese company is ready to engage in discussions as plans for the Phase 2 expansion develop.
Canada is also one of the biggest foreign sources of propane for Japan, a fuel used for cooking, heating and industry. Since 2020, Canada has become the second-largest supplier of propane to Japan and South Korea, after the United States, according to the Canada Energy Regulator, an agency of the federal Department of Natural Resources.
Mr. Kitamura, speaking to journalists at the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake Wednesday, said the country is also interested in Canada’s efforts to build a commercial, or revenue-generating, small modular nuclear reactor. Japan’s Hitachi is playing a major role in this project.
During a trip to Asia last month, Mr. Carney pitched Canada as a reliable trading partner with ample natural gas and critical minerals at a meeting of Asian leaders, as part of his bid to shift trade away from the increasingly protectionist and unpredictable United States.
He told Asian leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia that Canada is working to expedite the export of its natural resources, putting an emphasis particularly on the energy sector.
“We’re an energy superpower – an unabashed energy superpower,” Mr. Carney said in October.
“We have the third-largest reserves of oil. We have the fourth-largest reserves of LNG,” he said, referring to liquefied natural gas. “We’ve just started our first LNG shipments.”
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