Yuriko Koike
Japan built hydrogen filling stations under the JHFC project from 2002 to 2010 to test various technologies of hydrogen generation. By the end of 2012 there were 17 hydrogen stations. In 2014, the Japanese government approved a budget of $460 million to pay for 50% of the cost of adding up to 100 hydrogen stations. A task force led by Yuriko Koike, Japan's former environment minister, and supported by the country's Liberal Democratic Party, was set up in 2016 to oversee the process of building new hydrogen stations.