Japan kann ruhig bleiben und sich weiter von China abkoppeln – Japan arbeitet seit mehr als 15 Jahren daran, seine Abhängigkeit von Peking zu verringern, unter anderem durch die Entwicklung der „China Plus One“-Strategie und den Aufbau von Vorräten an Seltenen Erden.

Go Japan!!! Can’t wait for it to build a huge Japanese force (ps have half Japanese kids with passports and koseki, so waiting for day Japan reclaims throne)

*“My colleague David Fickling has already* [*outlined*](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-01-07/china-is-overplaying-its-rare-earth-hand-in-japan) *that there are few countries better equipped to weather a crackdown on rare-earth exports than Japan. In 2010, similar curbs were introduced after the arrest of a trawler captain who crashed into a Japanese Coast Guard vessel. They spooked Tokyo badly, and officials worked to reduce reliance on Chinese imports from* ***90% at the time to less than 60% today****. That’s still too high, but the nation has significant stockpiles built up during more cooperative times. It now also imports Australian minerals, processed in Malaysia.“*

I see this mentioned alot, and Japan is almost in every single article put up as a ***lone*** example of a country that has diversified ***some*** of its rare earth’s raw materials supplies away from China. Certainly, the reduction from 90% to 60% is considerable. However, this is for Light Rare Earths (LRE) metals. For Heavy Rare Earth (HRE) metals, Japan’s reliance on China is still close to 100%.

Per the NY Times:

*“Japan has spent much of the past 15 years* [*diversifying its supply chains*](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/business/japan-rare-earths-lynas.html) *and has cut its reliance on Chinese rare earths to around 60 to 70 percent today, from 90 percent in 2010. But China still dominates production, and* ***Japan also depends*** ***almost entirely on China for heavy rare earths, such as dysprosium and terbium****.“*

**Source:** [*https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/business/china-japan-rare-earths.html*](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/business/china-japan-rare-earths.html)*, published January 7, 2026.*

Heavy Rare Earths is where the „action“ is (so to speak). They feature prominently in EVs, wind turbines, defense & aerospace, and medical devices.

Lynas, likely the „Australian mine“ mentioned in the Bloomberg article only recently was able to demonstrate the ability to ***separate*** (not refine, which is another different, resource intensive step). This also makes no mention of the ability to scale up production either.

Lynas‘ Appendix 4E in August 2025 had this to say about heavy rare earths:

*“Significantly for Lynas and our customers,* ***first production*** *of separated Dysprosium and Terbium was achieved at Lynas Malaysia in May and June 2025 respectively. Lynas is now the world’s* ***only commercial producer*** *of separated Heavy Rare Earth products* ***outside China,*** *able to supply the two Heavy Rare Earth products required for rare earth permanent magnets used in electric motors.“*

**Source:** [https://lynasrareearths.com/investors-media/reporting-centre/annual-reports/](https://lynasrareearths.com/investors-media/reporting-centre/annual-reports/)

I feel like Japan stands no chance at gaining independence if it can’t speak English. This isn’t like a “English is best” thing… but rather, it’s the language spoken in most of the trading world. But I could be wrong… maybe?