Yesterday, Putin visited Japan’s Northern Territories—the islands north of Japan that the Soviet Union seized by force at the end of World War II, expelled their Japanese residents from, and has refused to return ever since. The Japanese media went into an uproar.
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It is embarrassing. All Japan accomplishes by making such a fuss is to advertise to the world the humiliation of having had its territory taken by another country and being unable to do anything about it. And the louder Japan protests, the more Russia will use the issue as a bargaining chip.
—“Oh, you really hate this that much? Well then, lift one of your sanctions against Russia, and maybe I’ll promise not to go there again (for a while).”
That is exactly the game Moscow would play.
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At a time like this, Japan’s prime minister should speak not just to Russia, but to the world. All she has to do is say something like this to reporters:
“President Putin, having invaded Ukraine by brutal force, may suddenly have remembered the Northern Territories and become nervous himself: ‘What if Japan decides to take those islands back by brutal force?’
Don’t worry, Mr. Putin. Japan remains committed to resolving this territorial dispute through negotiations. You, too, should stop attacking Ukraine and return to negotiations. If you do that, I will be in a position to lift sanctions and resume negotiations with your country on concluding a peace treaty.”
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There is little point in confronting Russia alone with legal arguments and logic when Moscow has no intention of budging.
The real task is to bring world opinion over to Japan’s side.
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It is high time Japan learned how to play that information game. Prime Minister Takaichi, with her streetwise instincts and the feisty spirit often associated with women from Kansai, ought to be quite capable of it.
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