The Japanese no longer need to import rare earth minerals for their high tech industry, greatly cutting into the economic hole of Japan’s natural import business. Before the Japanese discovered this large cache of rare earth minerals, the Chinese controlled almost the entire business of rare earth minerals.4 The Chinese increased prices on these rare earth minerals before the Japanese discovered their own minerals.4 Because of this, many other nations may prefer to import Japanese rare earth minerals over Chinese ones. Most experts believe Japan could become the largest exporter of rare earth minerals, finally putting them at the forefront of a natural export business.4 These many reasons are why rare earth minerals are by far the largest Japanese natural export Will the lack of fossil fuels lead Japan to becoming a weak, second-world nation with a crumbling economy and population, or will the recent find of rare earth minerals be enough to change Japan back into the “Land of the Rising Sun"?
Rare earth minerals being mined
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