Sales reached 445.3MW during the three-month period before the FIT went live, a 72% rise over the same period last year, according to the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association.

Expectations for the Japanese market have reached fever pitch, with many global manufacturers quietly ecstatic at the prospect of a new FIT in an affluent country to offset disappearing subsidies elsewhere.

For now, at least, growing Japanese demand is benefiting both home-grown players like Panasonic and Toshiba, and foreign manufacturers such as Suntech, with imported cells accounting for about 39% of sales during the last quarter – up from 15.5%