Japan: Sunny Side Up; The search for new energy powers an industry.(Cover Story)

Byline: Kay Itoi

As he rides the train, Takashi Tomita always looks out the window. He wants to see how many solar panels he can find on the rooftops whizzing by. With less than 1 percent of Japanese households using them, very few come into view. "That's why this is a wonderful field to be in," says Tomita, who, as head of the solar-power business for Japanese electronics giant Sharp, is the country's top solar-power engineer. "This is such a promising area, with an immense potential for growth."

Japan is a big economy with no natural energy resources. The country spends billions importing oil. That's why "it's natural to long for alternative power sources," says Tomita. In 1993 Japan embarked on an ambitious program to make so-called new energy sources--including solar power--approximately 3 percent of Japan's energy mix. That translates into 800,000 kilowatt-hours a year from solar power by 2010--23 times the amount produced in 1999. The Japanese government has spent 123 billion yen ($1.1 billion) between 1997 and 2004 on subsidies for solar panels on top of residential houses. About 50,000 Japanese homes installed solar panels in ...