"Takeshima" and "Northern Territories" in Japan's Nationalism

What is it about?

This article is about the domestic sources of Japan's territorial dispute with South Korea over Dokdo/Takeshima. It examines the origins and the processes that shaped Shimane Prefecture's Dokdo/Takeshima related activism and the role of another territorial dispute-the one with Russia over the "Northern Territories" in shaping this activism

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Why is it important?

Usually any activism by state, non-state or sub state actors related to territorial disputes is attributed to either nationalism or pursuit of natural resources. This piece is the first publication in both English and Japanese that analyzes five decades of Japan's Shimane Prefecture's activism related to Dokdo/Takeshima islets. The article is based on previously unexamined archival material and it argues that it was neither nationalism nor pursuit of natural resources behind Shimane's activism