Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TOKYO3560
2006-06-28 04:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tokyo
Cable title:  

THE VIEW FROM NEMURO: HEART OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE

Tags:  PREL PBTS EFIS RS JA 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHKO #3560/01 1790428
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O 280428Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3735
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 1104
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 9167
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO PRIORITY 8098
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TOKYO 003560 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2016
TAGS: PREL PBTS EFIS RS JA
SUBJECT: THE VIEW FROM NEMURO: HEART OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE
TERRITORIAL DISPUTE

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor W. Michael Meserve. Reason
: 1.4 (b)(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TOKYO 003560

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2016
TAGS: PREL PBTS EFIS RS JA
SUBJECT: THE VIEW FROM NEMURO: HEART OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE
TERRITORIAL DISPUTE

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor W. Michael Meserve. Reason
: 1.4 (b)(d).


1. (C) Summary: Local governments in Hokkaido Prefecture are
promoting the return of the four islands comprising the
disputed Northern Territories in part by fostering "mutual
understanding" with the islands' Russian residents.
Visa-free exchanges and humanitarian assistance are their
primary tools. Officials are worried about diminished
interest in the territorial issue and have focused on
increasing awareness of the dispute among Japanese youth.
Local officials are concerned about travel to the disputed
islands by Americans using Russian visas. Russia has yet to
grant permission for the Japanese to start harvesting this
year's seaweed crop in the waters of the Northern
Territories, resulting in a projected 8 billion yen (USD 70
million) loss for June. End Summary.


2. (C) Embassy Tokyo Political Officer journeyed to Japan's
northern prefecture, Hokkaido, June 4-8 to gather local views
of Russo-Japanese relations. In Japan's eastern-most city of
Nemuro, city officials reviewed issues relating to the
territorial dispute with Russia over the four islands that
lie just off the coast of Nemuro. At the end of World War
II, when the islands were occupied by Soviet troops, 17,291
Japanese residents of the islands fled back to mainland
Japan. Since then, Japan and Russia have been locked in a
territorial dispute and have yet to conclude a formal peace
treaty. Japan's official line is that all four islands are
Japanese territory and must be returned to Japan before it
will conclude a peace treaty. Russia counters that it is
willing to return the two islands of Shikotan and Habomai
following the conclusion of a peace treaty.

Visa-Free Exchanges: Promoting Understanding or Shopping?
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Hokkaido Prefectural Government's Northern Territories
Countermeasures Headquarters Deputy Director Hitoshi Ikemoto
explained that 2006 marks the 15th anniversary of a special
program that allows reciprocal visa-free visits between the

islands and Nemuro. Local Japanese officials hope the
ongoing visa-free exchanges will promote a "mutual
understanding" between Japanese and Russian citizens that
will ultimately lead to the reversion of the Northern
Territories to Japan. Over the past 14 years, 7,262 Japanese
have visited the Northern Territories, and 5,718 Russians
have made the trip to Nemuro. Former Shikotan islander
Hiroshi Tokunou, who has participated in several visa-free
exchanges, observed that Russian residents of the islands
appear to understand that the Japanese were forced from their
homes, and he believes they "are sympathetic" to the Japanese
position. Japan has emphasized to the Russians that they
would not be subjected to dispossession or any type of
mistreatment if the islands were to revert to Japanese
control. Japan's ultimate goal is to have both Japanese and
Russian residents living together under Japanese authority,
Tokunou asserted.


4. (C) Chishima-Habomai Former Islanders Association Chairman
Koizumi expressed concern that some Russian visitors view the
program as a tourist trip rather than a meaningful exchange.
Wealthier Russians tend to want to shop rather than learn
more about Japanese culture and history, Koizumi reported.
Perhaps with this in mind, Japanese organizers of the
exchanges have made the NiHoRo (an acronym for
Japan-Hokkaido-Russia),a multi-billion yen (roughly USD 17
million) facility built to showcase Japan's claim to the
Northern Territories, the obligatory first stop in the tour.
Through hands-on exhibits and high-tech displays in English,
Russian and Japanese, this facility ensures that Russian
participants are exposed to the official Japanese position on
the Northern Territories.

Dollar Diplomacy at Work in Humanitarian Assistance
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nemuro
Municipal Office Director Masatoshi Ishigaki explained, Japan
initiated a humanitarian assistance program to provide basic
needs to the islands' residents. After a devastating
earthquake subsequently rocked the islands and eastern
Hokkaido, Japan responded by increasing humanitarian
assistance through the construction of new schools and a new
electric generation plant on the affected islands. At
present, assistance has shifted away from disaster relief and
infrastructure projects to addressing medical needs, Director
Ishigaki remarked. In addition to donating medical equipment

TOKYO 00003560 002 OF 003


to the islands' hospitals, Nemuro hospitals accept critical
needs medical patients from the islands. Ishigaki noted that
in the first half of 2006, 15 Russian patients, most of them
children, were admitted to Japanese hospitals. However, the
Russian government has just announced its own development
program for the four islands, Ishigaki reported, which
Japanese officials fear
will diminish the islanders' reliance on and affinity for
Japan.

Shikotan Residents: Pro-Japan?
--------------


6. (C) Director Ishigaki described a poll conducted by the
Hokkaido Shimbun in November 2005 that interviewed residents
from three of the islands (the fourth is uninhabited)
regarding the possible return of the islands to Japanese
authority. Eighty percent of Etorofu residents and 63
percent of Kunashiri residents were opposed, but more than 50
percent of Shikotan residents were in favor. Ishigaki noted
two factors that might have contributed to Shikotan
residents' pro-Japan inclinations. First, Russia offered to
return Shikotan and the uninhabited islet group of Habomai in
the 1956 Japan-U.S.S.R. Joint Declaration and has referred to
this document in subsequent negotiations. Consequently,
Shikotan residents may feel more "psychologically prepared"
for a return to Japan. Secondly, Shikotan has more exposure
to Japanese former islanders since it was first to
participate in the visa-free exchanges, Ishigaki related.
The visa-free exchanges may be generating a pro-Japan outlook
among the Russian residents
as intended, he suggested.

Keeping the Campaign Alive: Increasing Awareness
-------------- ---


7. (C) With the average age of the 8,076 remaining Japanese
residents of the islands nearing 73, many people fear that
the momentum behind the campaign for the reversion of the
Northern Territories will decline, Director Ishigaki
observed. In response, local authorities are focusing
efforts on increasing awareness of the Northern Territories
issue among students, "The future of the campaign," Ishigaki
noted. The Nemuro Municipal Office regularly invites schools
from all over Japan to visit Nemuro and see the islands from
Cape Nosappu, where the nearest island is just over two miles
away and clearly visible on a clear day. The city office
also encourages schools to use textbooks that cover the
Northern Territories issue.


8. (C) The main objective of the Northern Territories
Restoration Campaign Alliance Federation is to raise public
awareness both domestically and internationally, Federation
Vice President Matsumi Mizuma explained. Subsidized by both
the central government and the Hokkaido prefectural
government, the Federation holds conferences for junior-high
social studies teachers to teach them how to incorporate the
Northern Territories issue in their syllabi, Mizuma remarked.
The Federation has also published material aimed at
elementary and junior-high school students on the history and
geography of the islands and encouraged university students
to participate in the visa-free exchanges. To increase
national awareness, the Hokkaido prefectural government
established February 7th as "National Reversion Day" and the
month of August as "Northern Territories Reversion Month,"
Deputy Director Ikemoto related. During these periods,
cities in Hokkaido sponsor an array of activities from poster
contests for children to signature petitions to encourage
public awareness and involvement.

Use of Russian Visas by U.S Tour Groups a Concern
-------------- --------------


9. (C) Vice Chairman Yamamato expressed concern about reports
that several U.S. travel agencies are conducting sightseeing
cruises to the Northern Territories, and that passengers are
entering the islands using Russian visas. An estimated 300
third-country nationals entered the islands with Russian
visas last year via these cruises, noted Yamamoto. The
Japanese government regards the entry of any Japanese or
third-country national into the Northern Territories using a
Russian visa as "contrary" to Japan's legal claim that the
islands are Japanese territory. While Japan does not
prohibit its citizens from entering the Northern Territories
outside of the visa-free exchange program, the Diet passed a
measure in 1989 to encourage Japanese to voluntarily refrain
from doing so, he explained.


TOKYO 00003560 003 OF 003


Fishing Frustrations: Seaweed Harvest Stalled
--------------


10. (C) The campaign for the return of the Northern
Territories is not fueled solely by national pride, Hokkaido
Government Subprefectural Office's Regional Policy Section
Chief Satoshi Yokoyama stated; economic issues, particularly
fishing rights, are also involved. In 1977 Japan became
bound by a 200-mile EEZ that limits its access to the
plentiful crab, salmon and seaweed (konbu) found in the
Northern Territories' waters. Each year Japan pays Russia
122 million yen (USD 1.1 million) for the rights to harvest
seaweed from Kaigara Island in the Habomai Group of islets.
The season runs from June 1 until the end of September, with
June and July comprising the peak harvest period. This year,
the annual negotiations are stalled, Yokoyama said, which has
caused Japan to miss the June 1 start date. Russia blames
the delay on incomplete documentation, Yokoyama continued,
but news reports point to an internal dispute within the
Duma. If Japan is prevented from harvesting seaweed for all
of June, the harvest with drop by 20 percent and Japan will
suffer an 8 billion yen (USD 70 million) profit loss,
Yokoyama lamented.
DONOVAN