Japan's Territorial Disputes’ Policy: Success or Failure?

Today, Japan has territorial disputes with all of its neighbors. In the case of the disputes over South Kuriles/Northern Territories and Dokdo/Takeshima, Japan seeks return of a territory that it claims to be illegally occupied by Russia and South Korea respectively. It the case of the Senkakus/Diaoyu, it is China and Taiwan that claim the islands administered by Japan. This chapter focuses on Japan's territorial disputes' related policy. It examines the policy goals set by the Japanese government and evaluates their successes and failures. It may seem that retrieval of lost territories and preservation of control over the Senkakus has been consistently the main goal of Japan's government. This chapter however shows that the actual policies related to the disputes have been more fluid and complex. It shows that the goals of Japan's government and related policies were not static and evolved over time, reflecting changes in ruling elites' priorities, domestic politics and structural changes on both regional and global levels. The chapter also shows that successful achievement of a certain policy goal can lead to failure at a later stage and vice versa.