### Environment Hokkaido: Sunshine and Shadow of Capital - Enclosure and Peripheralization of Foreign Capital (2020s)

### Environment Hokkaido: Sunshine and Shadow of Capital - Enclosure and Peripheralization of Foreign Capital (2020s)

Mega solar power plants spread across the vast land of Hokkaido were once seen as the "hope for renewable energy. Since the 2010s, the Japanese market has become an increasingly attractive investment destination for foreign investors due to the feed-in tariff scheme for renewable energy, and especially due to the depreciation of the yen. Foreign funds with dollar-denominated funds are effectively locking in Hokkaido's land and power generation projects at undervalued terms and siphoning profits out of the country. As a result, the profits from power generation are not fully returned to the local economy, and the local community is left to assume the "sacrificial" role of land donation and environmental burden.

This structure is an extension of Hokkaido's long history of being treated as a "food base," a "tourist resource," and a "natural energy supply area. In other words, the central government and foreign capital hold the profits and decision-making power, while Hokkaido is fixed as the "periphery" responsible for supplying resources and bearing the environmental burden. Moreover, due to the constraints of the power grid, electricity is preferentially sent to Honshu, which does not necessarily lead directly to local use or industrial development. Although a small amount of employment and tax revenue is generated, the structure of profit and control remains in the hands of the outside world.

This reality becomes even clearer when superimposed on Marx's theory of capital accumulation. Capital continually multiplies itself in the pursuit of profit and expands in a snowball effect. In this movement, nature and land are transformed into materials for capitalist proliferation, and the logic of capital takes precedence over the needs of local communities. The movement of foreign capital to build mega-solar power plants in Hokkaido is a typical example of capital becoming self-purposed and encompassing local communities. The depreciation of the yen has encouraged this trend, and as Japan as a whole has become a "cheap investment arena" for foreign capital, the "peripheralization" of Hokkaido has deepened even further.

In this way, the foreign enclosure of mega solar power plants is not just an energy issue, but also reflects the struggle between the logic of capital and the autonomy of local communities. The movement of increasing capital to incorporate the periphery and widen the gap is unstoppable. Therefore, in order to break through this structure, it is essential to establish a system that allows local communities to proactively manage their resources and reinvest profits, such as citizen-funded or municipality-led energy projects. To prevent Hokkaido's sun from being overshadowed by foreign capital, the region must be able to chart its future on its own initiative.