In recent years Japan has been tepid on bioethanol, with annual consumption of only about 800,000 kiloliters, most of it imported from Brazil. To put things into perspective, that’s just 20% of India’s total consumption.

Even more indicative of the fuel’s lack of popularity, Japan’s local production is negligible – about several thousand kiloliters annually. In fact, so small that the government doesn’t even collect data on it.

Fifteen years ago, however, bioethanol was all the rage, with national and local governments, as well as the agricultural sector, eager to cut emissions, increase farm income and promote ecotourism. Those dreams, however, went bust due to production inefficiency. Many projects were abandoned.

Even recently, Nagano City dropped a bioethanol plan from its biomass strategy. The company behind the project went bankrupt. Despite all these setbacks, there are new signs that give reason to think that bioethanol has a future in Japan.