Takeshima and the Northern Territories in Japan's nationalism: Alexander Bukh comments on the dispute between Japan and South Korea over the Liancourt Rocks.

• Author: Bukh, Alexander

Takeshima and the Northern Territories are symbols of Japan's nationalism. While Tokyo's official position on the two disputes over their sovereignty has been consistent since the mid-1950s, its domestic policy related to the disputes experienced an important change. From the mid-1960s, Tokyo began actively to utilise the Northern Territories dispute with the Soviet Union. By contrast, the dispute over Takeshima was put on the back burner of domestic politics as the government gave priority to co-operation with Seoul. This created a sense of victimhood in Shimane Prefecture, which by passing the 'Takeshima Day' ordinance in 2005 brought the territorial dispute to the fore of the domestic debates on Japan's relations with South Korea.

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In 2005, Japan's Shimane Prefecture adopted the 'Takeshima Day' ordinance that designated 22 February, the day the Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korean, Takeshima in Japanese) were incorporated into Japan in 1905, as a prefectural memorial day. The passage of the ordinance, the Korean reaction and the wide domestic coverage propelled Takeshima to the forefront of Japan's domestic debates on South Korea. It transformed the previously obscure and unknown to most Japanese dispute into one of the main symbols in Japan's nationalistic debates.

Commentators in South Korea but also in the English language media and academia elsewhere have interpreted this ordinance as another expression of the rising official and popular nationalism in Japan. The process that culminated in the passage of the ordinance is, however, much more complex than this. The ordinance was adopted against the wish of the government and key members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and, as I will explain below, was directed at Tokyo rather than at Seoul. Furthermore, Japan's other territorial dispute--the dispute with Russia over the South Kuriles/Northern Territories--has played an important role in bringing about the ordinance.

Shimane Prefecture's Takeshima-related activism did not start in 2005, but rather dates back to the early post-war years. Japan's defeat in the Pacific War and the loss of colonies, as well as the Allied occupation, brought about a sudden increase in population and shrinkage in fishing areas available to Japanese fishermen. Spurred by these developments, Shimane Prefecture embarked on a campaign urging the occupation authorities and the Japanese government to return the Liancourt Rocks, which during the...