Japan Wants to Sign a Peace Treaty With Russia After 70 Years

time.com ^ | Jan. 4, 2016 | TIME Staff

[Trumpinator]

Japan Wants to Sign a Peace Treaty With Russia After 70 Years

TIME Staff

Jan. 4, 2016

The two nations never got around to it at the end of World War II

Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister, has said that Tokyo would like to sign a peace treaty with Moscow.

[Trumpinator]

"It is best to be feared than loved"

[Intolerant in NJ]

I guess they know who the new world superpower is - thanks, President Obama.....

[Norm Lenhart]

I don’t blame them a bit.

[Buckeye McFrog]

With Russia keeping that bit of the Sakhalin Islands they seized during the last days of the war, of course.

[Darteaus94025]

Second reach out to the Russkies today!

Looks like nobody thinks they can count on the US for something they see right over the horizon.

[skeeter]

They want the Kuriles back.

I don’t think the Russians will return them, though.

[webheart]

The Kuriles

[Zhang Fei]

The intent has always been there. The sticking point has always been, and will continue to be, Russia’s annexation of the Kuriles and South Sakhalin. Unless Russia is willing to hand those territories back to Japan, perhaps in exchange for some kind of payment, a peace treaty probably won’t happen. Weirdly enough, Japan has had more military potential than Russia for decades now (current GDP is 2.5x Russia’s), but it hasn’t actually attempted to bulk up its military and make use of this potential. It could certainly afford a bigger nuclear force than Russia.

[JoeFromSidney]

The treaty will probably confirm Russian control of Sakhalin Island. The Japs must have given up hope of ever getting it back.

[Zhang Fei]

The treaty will probably confirm Russian control of Sakhalin Island. The Japs must have given up hope of ever getting it back.

It's also possible that they feel the Russians are desperate enough for cash (perhaps due to feelers sent out by Putin), thanks to crashing oil prices and international sanctions, that they'll accept some kind of payment in exchange for Sakhalin and the Kuriles.

[MarchonDC09122009]

No wonder the Japanese outreach, since Russia’s got’em by their Curlys...

[skeeter]

The Russian navy likes having access to the Pacific unimpeded and unobserved; Japan will never get these islands back.

[skeeter]

Japan would settle for the southernmost three Kuril islands, which are historically theirs. They obtained Sakhalin only after the war at the turn of the last century.

[Ancesthntr]

With Russia keeping that bit of the Sakhalin Islands they seized during the last days of the war, of course.

Back in the '80s, I was kind of waiting for the Japanese "Self Defense" forces to take the islands back to preserve the Emperor's honor before he died. Would have been legal - they were (and are) still legally at war. It would've made for some "interesting times."

[Vigilanteman]

What Japan wants back are only the southernmost Kuriles which are, geologically on a shared continential shelf with Hokkaido. Namely: Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands.

They were not, in Japan's view (which historical fact supports) part of the spoils from World War II or the Russo-Japanese War when Japan acquired the southern half of Sakhalin.

The boundary between Japan and Russia on these islands was established in the straight between Etorofu and Uruppu, even though the same continental shelf extends past Uruppu. This was by the treaty of Shimoda (1855) wherein Russia and Japan formerly established diplomatic relations.

The status of Sakhalin, however, remained undefined until 20 years later when Japan agreed to give up all claims to Sakhalin in exchange for all of the (remaining) Kuril Islands under the Treaty of St. Petersburg.

Japan then acquired the southern half of Sakhalin under the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, brokered by President Teddy Roosevelt as a spoil from the Russo-Japanese War.

There is a decent article and graphic here to explain more details.

[TBP]

No. They never abide by their treaties.

The only reason they didn’t break the Stalin-Hitler Pact was that Hitler beat them to it.

[ozzymandus]

Russia attacked Japan in the last days of WW2 to gain territory and slave labor. Something like Putin did in Ukraine. Putin=Stalin.

[Trumpinator]

The USSR attacked Japan in obligation of the agreement with the USA to attack Japan as soon as the war with Germany was over.

[skeeter]

I wonder if they would’ve attacked at all if it weren’t for the atom bombs.

[Trumpinator]

The USSR has already fought and won a brief war against Japan. Many think that this was what made Japan wary of going to war with the USSR.

The USSR's invasion of Japanese held China (The bulk of the Japanese land forces were there and they got butchered):

http://exiledonline.com/war-nerd-russias-other-great-victory/

War Nerd: Russia’s Other Great Victory

By Gary Brecher