Link to the article – https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240207_24/
Summary – The Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has come out to talk about a land dispute that Japan has with Russia, and says that Japan will continue working to try and claim back the land that they believe is theirs. For some background, in 1855 Japan and Russia signed a treaty that recognized the Northern Territories as belonging to Japan. After World War II Russia illegally occupied the four islands and in the 78 years since then they still have not given up the land and no peace treaty has been signed. Even though the Russia-Japan relations are in a low point in current times because of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, Kishida still has given a vow to continue trying to resolve the issue with Russia but Russia does not seem very keen on handing the islands back.
Analysis – I think there are two ways that Russia can look at this conflict, and the most likely is to practically ignore Japan. If you take control of land, whether you take it ethically or not, and it’s very unlikely that Russia has any regret over how they gained occupation of the islands, you don’t just give it up for no reason. Russia simply will not just give up the land and be pushed over because Japan representatives are upset that they took the land 78 years ago. Japan is likely not going to go to war over this land now because they haven’t done it for the past 78 years, so there’s no real threat to Russia. However, in this time for Russia they are kind of up against the world. In Ukraine they do not have many supporters and if they wanted to regain some of their diplomacy with Japan and get back on better terms with them it is possible that they could give Japan the land back in order to rebuild their relationship.
Connection to class – We are currently discussing security issues in class, and every security issue begins with a conflict. This situation right here currently is probably not seen as a security issue even though there is a conflict because it is not a pressing matter, this happened almost a century ago and nobody has acted on anything since then, but it’s possible that we see it escalate. If it gains importance in the Japanese national interests we may see Japan pursue the land more aggressively and eventually it could turn into threats of war or cancellation of trade if Russia continues to refuse to give Japan their rightful land back.