TOKYO - Japan's recent adoption of greener policies is in part due to global pressure, environment observers have said, noting encouraging signs amid the baby steps the country is taking to transition from its heavy reliance on fossil fuels to renewables.

Mr Shin Furuno of the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change told The Straits Times that the recent progress has also been due to "falling costs of renewable energy technologies and a greater expectation among the international community that Japan should be a regional leader in decarbonisation, given its technical sophistication".