Japan lost chance on the South Kuril Islands

Summing up the meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Japanese press does not find much reason for optimism. So, in an article for Nikkei Asian Review, an American expert, associate professor of the Tokyo campus of Temple University (Philadelphia, USA) James Brown writes about the final failure of Japanese attempts to reach a peace agreement with Russia on the basis of satisfying Japanese territorial claims.





In particular, the expert writes that Japan has missed the best time for negotiations, namely the 90s of the last century, when Russia was very weak both politically and economically. It was then, in his opinion, that Japan could offer Russia a deal that it would be difficult to refuse, and bargain for the disputed territories in exchange for economic help.

Another advantageous moment for negotiations on the Kuril problem, which was missed by the Japanese side, was the period of reunification of Russia with Crimea, when Moscow was extremely in need of international support and could in return meet the wishes of Tokyo.

According to the expert, Shinzo Abe made big concessions, hoping that this would help resolve the dispute. In particular, Japan’s consent to negotiate on the basis of the 1956 declaration is considered there a big step towards the Kremlin. However, Tokyo was late with this decisive measure, and now he has to abandon the illusions and move on to pragmatic relations in policy and a mutual benefit economy.