Japan consumes approximately 4 percent of the world’s primary energy. The 1979 Energy Conservation Law provides the foundation for Japan’s energy efficiency policy. The law was revised in 1999, and since that time the Japanese Ministry of Economic, Trade and Industry (METI) has administered the Top Runner program to drive improvements in energy efficiency across 23 product categories. Top Runner is a “maximum standard value system” that sets efficiency targets based on the most energy efficient products available on the market at the time.

In 2000, the Committee on Electricity and Electronics in the Japan Industrial Standards Committee (JISC) on Electricity and Electronics approved the draft of Energy Saving Labeling, and JISC established the Labeling Program as a JIS standard, a voluntary labeling program covering 18 products including air conditioners, fluorescent lights, televisions, electric refrigerators and freezers, water heaters, and computers. Japan also has a comparative Uniform Energy Saving Label that is required for air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators, electronic toilet bowls and fluorescent lights.

Information regarding Japan's current energy efficiency programs can be found on the CLASP Standards and Labeling (S&L) Database.