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ABSTRACT: In the modern era, the demarcation of national boundaries has been a critical feature of the international system. Continent-based demarcations are often more complex than island-based demarcations due, in part, to the former's generally greater ethnic, religious and historical diversities. However, island-based demarcations, especially when involving archipelagos, can also be a challenging process. States with extensive archipelagos are often faced with geographical archipelagic ambiguities, whereby it is unclear to the archipelagic state and other states where the former's national boundaries begin and end. This paper explores the archipelagic ambiguities modern Japan was faced with and examines their origins and how they were resolved. By 1868, Japanese leaders realized that Japan's lingering territorial uncertainties could no longer be left unaddressed if their country was to become a contemporary state. The modern demarcation of Japan was a process lasting more than a decade, until the country resolved the geographical ambiguities along its northern and southern peripheries.
Keywords: archipelagos, borders, demarcation, islands, Japan, Kuril Islands, Meiji Japan, Okinawa, Ryūkyū Kingdom, Sakhalin
© 2015 - Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
Introduction
It has been 24 years since the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Throughout the latter struggle Japan was firmly integrated into the American-led capitalist bloc in opposition to the Soviet-led communist bloc. During the Cold War period Japan's independence and freedom of maneuver in the realm of international relations were constrained in large part due to the supreme and overarching nature of the bipolar conflict between the capitalist West and communist East. Japan, being totally defeated and exhausted following the Pacific War, allied itself with the United States and came to depend on the latter for political, economic and security guarantees, while internally focusing on the task of national economic recovery. This strategy, known as the Yoshida Doctrine, was named after its intellectual architect Yoshida Shigeru, who served twice as prime minister of Japan (from 1946-47 and 1948-1954 respectively) (Dobson, Gilson, Hughes & Hook, 2012, pp. 28-29). Relying upon American hegemonic power, especially in the areas of defence and foreign affairs, also meant that Japan's territorial disputes with other nations and/or territorial ambiguities were ultimately suppressed, shelved, or frozen due to the overarching geopolitical...