Abstract: As conventional oil reservoirs deplete and concerns grow about rising carbon emissions from coal, natural gas will play a large role in sustainable economic growth. Gas hydrates, as a rich source of methane gas, have attracted great interest from academia and industry. As one of the earliest countries to launch a national hydrate R&D program, Japan is one of the few countries that has continued to invest huge amounts of money and adheres to its industrial development goals after more than 20 years of global hydrate exploration and production test boom. It has made unprecedented achievements in the field of hydrate resource exploration and development. Therefore, based on the author's published research results on the development process of the R&D phase of Japan's hydrate development plan from FY2001 to FY2018, this paper systematically summarizes the R&D progress of pore-filling type hydrate in the transition phase before industrialization from FY2019 to FY2023, analyzes Japan’s assumptions and thoughts on achieving the goal of hydrate industrialization, and forms the understandings worthy of reference for the promotion of hydrate industrialization development process in China.