The Northern Territories Dispute

Not many people are probably aware of the fact that World War II in the Pacific is not really “over” yet. That is because there has never been an official peace treaty, ending the war between Japan and Russia. Why is that, you may ask? The answer is because of some more disputed islands, this time in the North Pacific, known as the south Kuril Islands in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. These are a few, small, rather insignificant islands which are controlled by Russia but claimed by Japan. As with most territorial disputes involving Japan and her, oh-so-courageous, republican neighbors, it only came about after the Japanese defeat in World War II, after Japan enacted a constitution that forbid warfare as a means of settling disputes. How convenient. To understand this problem though, we need to go back to the beginning. Today the disputed islands are Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands, keep those names in mind.

The northern islands between Japan and Russia had been a source of confusion and dispute even before the two countries had any diplomatic relations with each other. When the two countries did finally sign a treaty, in 1855, the Treaty of Shimoda, it specified that the border between the Empires of Russia and Japan would run between the islands of Etorofu and Uruppu. So the island of Etorofu and everything south belonged to Japan and Uruppu and everything north belonged to the Kuril Islands of Russia. The islands of Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands, all south of Etorofu, were all recognized as belonging to the Empire of Japan and, in fact, their status was never even in dispute. The bigger issue had always been the larger island of Sakhalin which was inhabited by both Russian and Japanese nationals. To keep the peace, both countries agreed to share Sakhalin. This, however, proved impossible and so in the 1875 Treaty of St Petersburg the Japanese gave all Sakhalin to Russia completely in exchange for which the Russians gave up all of the Kuril Islands to Japan. Later, after the Russo-Japanese War, the peace treaty gave the southern half of Sakhalin back to Japan but nothing else changed.

Later, in 1941, the Empire of Japan and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact in which both promised to respect the territorial borders of the other and to take no part in any conflict that involved Japan or the Soviet Union with a third power. It was signed in April of 1941 and was stipulated to be valid for five years, so it would not have expired until April of 1946. The Empire of Japan was scrupulously faithful to this agreement and this is why, for example, when her fellow Axis partners Germany and Italy invaded the Soviet Union only a couple of months later, Japan took no part. The only mistake Japan made was in assuming that communists ever keep their word or honor their agreements. In spite of the non-aggression pact, the Soviet Union agreed with Britain and America to go to war with Japan after Germany was defeated in Europe. Of course, because communists are as cowardly as they are untrustworthy, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin waited until after the war had already effectively been won and after America had dropped one atomic bomb on Japan and one day before they dropped the second, to suddenly stab the Japanese in the back and invade the pro-Japanese Empire of Manchukuo. They grabbed everything of military or industrial value, looting basically the entire infrastructure set up by Japan before going on to loot, rape and murder the Manchu populace. Three days after Japan surrendered to the Allies, Soviet forces also moved in to invade and occupy the Kuril Islands.

Now, it is important to remember that when the Allies were dividing up the spoils, so to speak, to be gained from a defeated Japan that these islands were not included. The drive to gain territory at the expense of Japan was mostly driven by the Republic of China which was eager to take advantage of Japan losing World War II (mostly to the United States) to regain all territory lost in conflicts with Japan previously that had nothing to do with the Second World War. So, the Cairo Declaration of 1943 stated that, “Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed”. Now, keep in mind that the islands in dispute today and, in fact, one could say all of the Kuril Islands (which Japan does not claim) were not part of this since Russia recognized from their very first diplomatic agreement with Japan that these islands were Japanese territory and the rest of the Kuril Islands were not gained “by violence and greed” but by a peaceful agreement with Russia in exchange for the Japanese half of Sakhalin.

When the official treaty ending the war between Japan and the Allies was signed, the Treaty of San Francisco, the Soviet Union refused to sign on, in part because the treaty did not recognize the Soviet right to the islands they had occupied. In 1956 a Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration was signed to end the state of war between these two countries prior to a permanent peace treaty, a peace treaty which has still not been agreed to. In the declaration the Soviets agreed to return the Habomai and Shikotan Islands to Japan to be carried out after a permanent peace treaty was signed but that has never happened. More might have been done at the time but the United States objected in 1956 and to this day Japan and Russia have not agreed on who should control which islands. Today Russia still claims that even the islands of Etorofu and Kunashiri are part of the Kurils and thus Russian territory in spite of the fact that, as mentioned at the beginning, the Russian Empire never claimed these islands and in their original treaty with Japan in 1855 recognized them as Japanese territory. The fact should also be reiterated that the entire Kuril island chain was not gained by Japan by violence but by peaceful territorial exchange and Japan does not claim all of these islands or the southern half of Sakhalin that was lost to the Soviets after World War II. All Japan claims is those islands which had been recognized as Japanese territory by Russia from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, in the years since, Russia has chose only to exacerbate the issue. When the Soviets first occupied the islands, they rounded up all the inhabitants, over 17,000 people, and deported them to Japan -what some people would call ethnic cleansing. Since the Putin-Medvedev regime in Russia started to take measures to befriend Communist China, tensions between Russia and Japan over the islands have increased. A visit by President Medvedev in 2010 provoked Japan to sever diplomatic relations with Russia and in 2011 Russia began militarizing the islands. In 2013, in an effort to salvage the situation, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin but, as yet, no agreement has been reached nor does the current situation inspire much cause for optimism as Russia has declared that a Japanese recognition of Russian sovereignty over the islands is a prerequisite to any negotiations on the matter and, of course, Russian sovereignty over the islands is exactly the matter in dispute to be negotiated over. So, Japan says, “they belong to us” and Russia says, “they belong to us” and when Japan says, “we seem to have a disagreement, let us discuss the issue”, Russia responds with, “we will discuss it if you agree first that they belong to us”. It is a completely ridiculous situation and seems all the more so coming from what is the largest country on earth, referring to these miniscule and practically valueless islands gained illegally by a violation of their word of honor as “an important region of our country”. It is an unjust violation of Japan for Russia to hold these islands and a shame that the Russia of today should defend the criminal behavior of the Soviet regime they succeeded.

Christianity in Japan

すべての人をうやまい、兄弟たちを愛し、神をおそれ、王を尊びなさい。

Two-Faced Red Chinese Aggression

Recently, the bandit government in Peking took a serious step toward provoking a war by announcing an "expanded air zone" in the East China Sea which covers the Japanese territory of the Senkaku Islands. The communist government has threatened any aircraft that does not identify itself and follow their instructions in this area with hostile action. Both the United States and Japan have objected to this blatantly aggressive action over territory which even China claims is in dispute, and as far as Japan and America are concerned there is no dispute as the Senkakus are clearly Japanese and there is no doubt at all that they are under Japanese control so no matter which side one takes, the bandits in Peking are behaving stupidly. The communists, of course, are feigning outrage over the objections from Tokyo and Washington and here they display their two-faced hypocrisy. As we recently discussed, not long ago the Prime Minister of Japan announced his intention to take more firm action against future Chinese incursions of Japanese air space. The Chinese, at that time, howled that any such action would be considered an act of war. So, they are saying that it would be an act of war for Japan to fire on Chinese aircraft invading Japanese airspace and now they have responded by vastly increasing the air space they claim to even cover Japanese territory.

This is all, of course, simply for the benefit of the local Chinese populace so that if the communist bandits provoke any hostilities with Japan, the bandits will be able to tell the Chinese people that Japan violated their territory which, of course, it is not. However, since there is nothing close to a free press in China, the regular people only know what their government tells them and the communists would claim to own the moon if they thought it would benefit them. The American Defense Secretary called the action by China a "destabilizing attempt" but also asserted that this will change nothing as far as American deployments or military action in the area. In other words, the U.S. will carry on as before and if the Red Chinese choose to do something stupid, it will be their own fault and no one else's. It is encouraging to see the United States standing firm with Japan in the face of Red Chinese aggression. The Republic of China on Taiwan and South Korea have also voiced their own objections to this overreaching by the bandits in Peking, however, whether or not they will be able to set aside their own bigotry against Japan in the face of a common threat is another story, particularly as it concerns South Korea whose president still refuses to even speak to the Prime Minister. That is most unfortunate as the non-communist countries of East Asia should be standing firmly together in the face of this naked Chinese communist aggression.

Texas and Japan - Friends Forever

To the Memory of the Heroes of the Alamo
by Professor Shigetaka Shiga

One hundred fifty are besieged by five thousand;
Not only the provisions but the ammunition is all gone.
Thirty-two men hear the news and hurry to the scene.
The heavy strokes of their sabers lead them into the fortress, through the ranks of the enemy to see
The commander of the fortress wet with blood,
And his men reeling against the walls with exhaustion but with swords in hand.
Now comes the dauntless South Carolinian,
Knowing that if he does not answer duty's call, disgrace and shame will be his.
Returning he rides into the siege on a white charger,
Salutes the besieged with a smile, and says, "We die together."
They bind up their wounds and fight in higher spirits.
Speak not of the bravery of Chang Hsun at Suiyang, for here the one hundred and eighty-two corpses were laid; not one surrendered.
The people of the twenty-four states get inspiration thereby,
And learn for the first time that unanimous cooperation is superior to geographical advantage.
Why should they be mourned? For the dauntless, it is not a pain but a pleasure to cover an obstruction miles long.
Lo! the mouth of the river once occupied by the enemy is in the possession of the T' ang!
Now I am on a journey, far away from my home across the ocean.
I have come to San Antonio, where there are bushes of the graceful oleander.
And, as in a dream, I wonder if this is the very spot where that dreadful bloodshed took place in years gone by.
You do not see Chang Hsun, Hsu Yuan, and Nan Chiyun (David Crockett, Bowie, and Bonham)
But their fame, like the blossom's fragrance, is still in the air.
The custom of the West does not necessarily condemn surrender.
Why? We have never heard of a commander destroyed,
But here in the state of Texas, we see one (Travis).
In spirit there is not a distinction between East and West.
You need not wonder, then, if I drink a toast to your memory!
I have brought a well-polished stone from Japan,
And commemorate your heroic deeds with this humble inscription.

Spetember 1914

COMFORT WOMEN ISSUE 慰安婦問題（07年 米TV番組から）

This is an important video, particularly for people in the United States and English-speaking world to see, on the little-told Japanese point of view on the controversial "comfort women" issue with Korea:

The Capture of Kiaochow Bay

It was on this day in 1914 that Imperial Japanese forces captured the German colony of Kiaochow Bay in China, centered on the port city of Tsingtao. The Germans gave determined resistance but ultimately stood no chance against the superior forces of the Empire of Japan. The British also sent a token force to participate in the battle, about 1,000 British troops and 500 Sikhs from India. This was done because the western Allies feared that if Japan carried out the operation alone, they would have no say in how the German spoils of war would be allocated when the fighting was over, so Britain sent this small force of 1,500 men to participate as well. However, during the fighting there was some confusion and some Japanese forces mistakenly fired on their British allies because they could not always tell the difference between the British and the Germans who were both north European peoples and many of whom wore similar uniforms. A rather humorous solution to this problem was found which was that the Japanese gave the British troops kimonos to wear over their uniforms so that there would be no confusion in telling the British apart from the Germans. When the siege and battle were finally over and the Germans surrendered, as the defeated German troops marched out, they faced only the Japanese soldiers and turned their backs to the British. This was because the Japanese had carried the brunt of the fighting and the Germans resented the British sending just a small force to claim a share of the glory while Japan did most of the fighting. The British, of course, were offended by this and the British commander complained to General Kamio Mitsuomi who could only reply that they could not repeat the entire ceremony just for that. Japan held the city of Tsingtao until 1922 when it was handed over to the Republic of China.

HM the Empress Birthday Portraits