May 2014

Angela Mara Pcsi Araujo

INTL 2990-001: Study Abroad to Japan
ePortfolio Signature Assignment

o There are some territorial disputes between Japan and other countries. Choose one of the issues
and write about it.
Island Russian Empire
In 1845 Japan proclaimed sovereignty over the whole island of Sakhalin, but its claims
were ignored by the Russian Empire. The Treaty of Shimoda signed in 1855 acknowledged that
both Russia and Japan had joint rights of occupation of Sakhalin, which gave Japan ownership of
the four southern islands and Russia ownership of everything to the north.

This ambiguity led to increasing friction between the settlers in the 1860s and 1870s. Attempts by
the Tokugawa shogunate to purchase the entire island from the Russian Empire failed, and the
new Meiji government was unable to negotiate a partition of the island into separate territories. In
1875, in the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, Japan agreed to give up its claims on Sakhalin Island in
exchange for undisputed ownership of the Kuril Islands.
The island chain known as the Kurils stretches north across the Pacific Ocean from the
Japanese island of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Four islands,
known as the Southern Kurils for Russia and the Northern Territories for Japan, are the subject of a
60 year old dispute between the two nations. The islands are Kunashir (known in Japanese as
Kunashiri), Iturup (Etorofu), Shikotan and the Habomai rocky islets. However, because of this issue,
Russia and Japan have not yet signed a peace treaty to end the World War II.
Communities developed on three of the islands and in the beginning of World War II there
were 17,000 Japanese residents. In the end of the war, Russia took control of the islands. Japanese
people who had migrated north to the islands in the 18th and 19th century had been deported.
Then, under the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed between the Allies and Japan, Japan
renounced "all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands", as well as other possessions. In 1956, the
Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration restored diplomatic ties between the two nations, but a formal
peace deal could not be agreed because of the territorial dispute. This resolved nothing because
Russia did not sign the treaty and the Japanese government has never recognized the four islands
as part of the Kuril chain. At that time, Russia proposed returning the two islands closest to Japan,
but Japan rejected the deal because the two islands represent only 7% of the land in question.

A 30,000 Russian community lives on the islands and there is also a Russian military
presence on Iturup. In 2004, Vladimir Putin indicated that the offer of return of the two
southernmost islands was still on debate, and showed no signs of relinquishing the two larger
islands. Natural resources are part of this reason, such as the surroundings of rich fishing grounds,
rare rhenium deposits that have been found on the Kudriavy volcano on Iturup, and the thoughts
of having offshore reserves of oil and gas. Tourism is a potential source of income too, as the
islands have several volcanoes and a variety of birdlife. In early August 2006, the Russian
government backed a 17bn-rouble ($630m) plan to develop the entire Kuril island chain, including
improving energy and transport infrastructure.
In recent times, the Kuril Islands are still a territorial dispute issue between these two
nations.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territorial_disputes#Asia_and_Pacific
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11664434
http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrTcXUAPqNTpFcAYjmJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIz
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