(Obviously both BEV and FCEV need electricity, but that can equally come from renewable. FC has lower wire-to-wire efficiency than Battery, so clearly optimal energy efficiency is not Japan's motivation. Hydrogen refuels faster and a full tank gets you much further, but the tank is very bulky.)

Wondering given it's Japan and they keep stressing "resource-poor", is hydrogen FCEV less susceptible to embargoing on metals by China than BEV?

China unofficially embargoed rare earth metals exports to Japan after the 2010 Senkaku incident [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earths_trade_dispute]