Rise Of ‘Militarism’ In Japan – OpEd

 March 19, 2023  Eurasia Review 

By Fumiko Yamada

Japan’s traditional constitution calls for the armed forces to forever abandon the principle of war and formulate foreign policy. The country can no longer maintain that tradition. On 12 December 2022, Japan’s ruling party coalition, composed of 90 percent of Liberal Democratic Party MPs and 10 percent of Komeito Party MPs, agreed on a change in national security strategy. Along with common security issues, defense issues are also identified and guidelines for military development are determined in the next 10 years.

The current decisions are inconsistent with Article 9 of the Constitution enacted in 1947. It says – ‘Japan has forever abandoned the use of armed forces to solve foreign policy problems.’ Without resolving or changing this conflict, Japan has already emerged as a major military power and a large contingent of superpower military personnel is stationed in Japan. Shinzo Abe attempted to amend the clause by proposing to add a third clause to the ninth article, known as the ‘Abe Amendment’. Abe’s introduction of the amendment only makes a mockery of the founding document of modern Japan. Many want to drop the entire clause. But to change such a fundamental document, the Japanese consider themselves treacherous.

Anti-missile units have been promised in the present Defense Force SDF. According to Department of Defense data, there are about 56,000 US military personnel in Japan, which is more than any other country. Article 5 of the Constitution states that the United States must defend Japan if a third party attacks it. Article 6 expressly gives the United States the right to establish military bases on Japanese soil. As a result, the Americans are occupying the large island of Okinawa. The island is now claimed by China. There are 32 small and large bases and 48 training centers operating in Japan. Despite a strong alliance based on common values, many Japanese feel that the Japanese and Americans are as mixed as oil and water. As in Yugoslavia, the Serbs and Bosnians were tried by Marshal Titu to mix them together. According to the published security strategy report – 500 missiles will be purchased by 2027. During this time they will be made with own technology.

The key question is how to determine how the Japanese government will pay for the defense costs of its planned military upgrades. This is not possible unless the current army spending and defense budget are doubled. This will cost Japan an additional $300 billion.

Kisida’s predecessor, Suga Kovit, effectively ended the Olympic Games amid the recession that followed. If Japan is to spend a lot of money on this urgent military need, it must gradually bring it down to 2 percent of the country’s annual GDP. In the post-war period, Japan’s defense spending was below 1 percent. Japan’s economy is the third largest in the world. When Prime Minister Kishida explained the issue to the people, the opposition pointed out to him, ‘You can explain until you are blue in the face.’

How will the process of radical change in Japan’s defense policy actually unfold, although military change is a commonplace in today’s world? China believes that by strengthening Japan militarily, the United States will use it against its country and use Taiwan. The late Abe was known for his pro-Taiwan stance. After resigning, Abe said in late 2021, “Taiwan’s emergency is an emergency for Japan and an emergency for the Japan-US alliance.”

Post-assassination sympathies for Abe are key to whether the rise of right-wing forces will strengthen Japan and whether Article 9 of the post-war constitution is being amended. Many in Japan worry that the Kishida administration will seize the opportunity to fulfill Abe’s legacy and revive Japanese militarism. Most parliamentarians want the rise of militarism.

The question now is how much political success Fumio Kishida will be able to achieve in the next three years after his recent election victory. Kisida has a strong interest in denuclearization and establishing order in the Indo-Pacific region. Kishida has enough motivation to pick up the baton of Abe’s dream. Surprisingly, the biggest hurdle will be building consensus within the ruling party, not with the opposition.

Changing the constitution meant revising the Peace Constitution that the United States drafted for Japan after World War II, specifically Article 9, which stated that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.” ‘Land, sea and air forces, as well as other war capabilities, will never be maintained’ and ‘the right of war of states will not be recognized.’

Japan will not be prevented from enacting new martial law without changing the constitution; It won’t be long between amending the constitution and Japan returning to its old militarized ways. Indeed, amending the Constitution has a greater symbolic meaning. Japan’s right-wingers believe the change will signal Japan’s recovery from war defeat.

Taiwanese commentator Julian Cuore said the real key is whether the US wants to “free the tiger from its cage.” The US is still the deciding factor. Sino-US relations as well as Sino-Japanese relations have changed during Abe’s time in power. After US President Joe Biden took office, Japan’s position against China became more clear and Japan’s status as a US ally increased.

China no longer sees Japan as an equal opponent. After Abe’s death, there are no more ‘backseat drivers’ to keep the Kishida administration in check. It seems that the plan to amend the constitution will be implemented without any haste. Japan’s pro-US and pro-Taiwan positions are not changing in any way. Chinese netizens rather said, if Japan goes back to militarization, China will have the opportunity to erase a century of shame.

Kisida completed his visit to Washington on January 13 this year. He met with Biden. Now Japan-US relations are at an all-time high. Kishida’s visit to the United States was followed by visits to five G-7 countries, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada. Japan is the current president of the G-7 group. Biden praised Kishida as “a true leader and a true friend.”

In March 1990, Major General Henry C. Stackpole, commander of US Marine Corps bases in Japan, stated that American troops must remain in Japan; Because no one wants a resurgence of World War II Japan.’ He thinks it’s better to keep the wolves locked up!

Johnston, Japan Chair of the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “The tide of reluctance has shifted and the United States is welcoming Japan’s new capabilities. Japan will now play an important strategic role and proxy for the United States in maintaining stability in East Asia due to China’s growing military activity.” thinks

In the post-World War II period, the Japanese Self-Defense Force, the JSDF, served only as a ‘shield’ engaged in defense, while US forces envisioned it as a ‘spear’ for retaliatory attacks. Reflecting on this issue, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, the late Shinzo Abe, was able to lay the groundwork for a plan to acquire a hostile strike capability for a full week at the end of his second term as prime minister, which has come to be known as ‘Abe’s counter-strike capability’, a doctrine the Kishida administration is honoring. . The US is happy about it, but China is against it.

Militarism and Japan’s role as G-7 president have emerged as three major problems. Can Kishida solve them? One of them is the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. As a friend, Ukraine should show support and Russia should show strictness. Nevertheless, Japan is still getting a lot of help in Russia’s oil and gas development projects Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2. Billions of yen are pouring into Russia’s economic pipeline every day. Japan depends on the Middle East for about 90 percent of its crude oil imports. Sakhalin-1, on the other hand, is a valuable alternative source. Sakhalin-2 supplies about 9 percent of Japan’s liquefied natural gas, LNG imports, and about 3 percent of its total electricity generation, which is essential for Japan’s energy security. Apart from this, the harsh reality is that Hiroshima Gas Co. Ltd., located in Kishidar’s own constituency, is getting almost half of its LNG from Sakhalin-2. But as things stand now, Kishida may not keep Zelensky’s invitation to visit Ukraine if Biden doesn’t push. Anytime Putin plays Europe-like ‘gas line diplomacy’ with Japan, it will become difficult for the US to supply gas from such a distance.

Japan only supplies Ukraine with bullet-proof vests, helmets and other protective equipment. Japanese aid to Ukraine in 2022 is the lowest among the G-7, with a total value of 600 million euros, just 1.2 percent of total US aid to Ukraine, according to German calculations. As the West moves toward severing ties with Russia, it’s a tough test for Kishida.

The second problem centers on nuclear weapons. Kishida is an activist for nuclear disarmament to build a ‘world without nuclear weapons’. Nagasaki Hiroshima Japanese will never forget. But with Russia and North Korea threatening direct use of strategic nuclear weapons and China expanding its nuclear arsenal, the reality is that Japan has become more dependent than ever on the US nuclear umbrella.

In May 1991, Japan sent minesweepers to the Persian Gulf against Iran. Iran said they would not be returned. The then Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu said ‘To allow Japan to send its forces abroad again is like giving chocolate liquor to a drunkard.’ It is easy to understand that Japan did this under the pressure of a superpower, i.e. Japan does not have the key to use military force.

Finally, how to deal with a rising China is also a major headache for the Kishida administration. Kishida has repeatedly said his government will not tolerate any attempt to forcibly change the status quo, in violation of international law, with China in mind. But with Japan’s public debt already standing at 264 percent of GDP—the highest in the world, Kishida can’t balance anything unless there is a limit to how much Tokyo can add to its growing national deficit in an effort to match China’s growing military power.

Instead of relying solely on conflict and attack preparations against Beijing, Japan would play its own role as China’s neighbor in de-escalating regional tensions, creating a different atmosphere in the region. Is it possible for Tokyo to conduct tough diplomacy that is both strong and subtle? Many have now questioned the diplomatic capabilities of the Kishida administration. Opposition alliances are strengthening within Japan itself over whether Japan should pursue its own traditional strengths and policies or act as a Western mouthpiece. The US demilitarized Japan so that Japan would not turn and attack, now it is militarizing to make it easier for China to attack.

Japanese national Fumiko Yamada has a passion for “international affairs.” She works as a research associate at the Australian “University of Melbourne.” She received her degree in South Asian Studies from the University of Toronto in Canada.

Japan-Russia tensions flare over Ukraine war amid decades-long land disputes

May 08, 2024 
By Chermaine Lee

In this undated photo, a turret from an old tank set in the ground as a part of war fortifications in front of a lighthouse near Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashiri Island, one of the Kuril Chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.

SAPPORO, JAPAN —

Friction between Japan and Russia will likely escalate amidst the burgeoning Ukraine war, with the decades-long land conflicts showing no sign of thawing.

The Kremlin recently banned non-Russian vessels from waters near the Kuril Islands – known in Japan as the Northern Territories – currently occupied by Russia but claimed by Japan.

Tokyo saw the move as part of a series of Moscow threats after the recent security alliance between the United States and Japan.

There will be further retaliation from Moscow against Japan, according to James DJ Brown, professor of political science at Japan’s Temple University.

“The Putin regime feels an obligation to retaliate against what it regards as unfriendly actions by Japan,” Brown told VOA News. “Every time Tokyo does something more to assist Ukraine or to strengthen military ties with the United States, Moscow takes some measures to punish Japan.”

He said that as Japan is likely to introduce further sanctions to support Kyiv, Moscow’s retaliation is “all but guaranteed.”

The retaliatory measures aren’t just targeting Tokyo. A Russian man residing in the Kuril Islands was warned in March by a Russian court over his remarks to Japanese media that the territory had belonged to Japan in the past.

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would visit the Kuril Islands, putting a damper on hopes for negotiations over sovereignty that both countries have attempted for decades.

Kuril Islands

Land disputes run deep

Russia and Japan’s competing claims over the four islands off the northeast coast of Hokkaido – Japan's second-largest island – date back to at least the 19th century. Near the end of WWII, the then Soviet Union started fully occupying the Kuril Islands.

Japan claimed that the Soviet Union incorporated them “without any legal grounds” and refused to sign a peace treaty. Tokyo said about 17,000 Japanese residents were deported from the islands. The Russian public, Brown said, view the Kuril Islands as reward for the sacrifices of the Soviet people during the war.

The two countries have held talks off and on for decades to reach an agreement but to no avail.

The conflict eased in 2016, when the two countries agreed on joint economic activities including tourism projects on the islands, as well as visa-free visits for Japanese citizens.

Two years later, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed a split of the four islands, returning two islands to Japan, but Putin rejected it. Akihiro Iwashita, professor of the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center at Japan’s Hokkaido University, called this Putin’s “failed diplomacy” toward Japan that eventually led to Tokyo taking a more hardline approach against Moscow.

“If Putin had shown goodwill to Japan, negotiating with Shinzo Abe for the peace treaty, Japan would not have taken a critical position over the Ukraine war,” Iwashita told VOA News. “Remember Japan’s hesitation to sanction Russia after its 2014 aggression against Ukraine? Japan now does not need to restrain its policy towards Russia.”

Tensions over the Ukraine war

Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow put all peace treaty talks with Japan on hold and suspended the previously agreed economic activities and visa-free visits to the islands for Japanese citizens. This followed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s siding with Ukraine in the war, with Kishida calling the suspension “extremely unjust.”

Japan has been providing assistance to Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, including supplying Patriot air defense systems last year. Kishida was the first Japanese leader to visit an active war zone, to show solidarity with Ukraine and the U.S.

Moscow warned of “grave consequences” for its ties with Tokyo. That did not stop Japan from pledging $4.5 billion in aid to war-torn Ukraine last December, including $1 billion for humanitarian purposes.

Japan’s aid to Ukraine has affected residents of Hokkaido. A survey conducted by Hokkaido authorities and the Hokkaido Shimbun last year showed that over half of the respondents near the Russia-Japan border in the north felt a negative effect of the Ukraine war on local life, including reduction in fishing activities and trade, and human contacts.

In October last year, Russia banned all seafood imports from Japan, citing Tokyo’s release of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“Moscow used the pretense of the threat of radiation from treatment water from the Fukushima plant. In reality, it was an attempt by Moscow to punish Japan for its support for Ukraine,” Brown said.

In the survey, many also said they cannot foresee a solution for the northern territories, but a majority said they support Tokyo’s policy against Russia.

Both experts said Russia does not currently pose a military threat to Japan. Brown said, “the Russian military is present on the disputed islands, but their role is to defend the Sea of Okhotsk, which is important as a bastion for Russian nuclear submarines. It does not have the capabilities on the islands to launch an amphibious assault on Hokkaido.”

Peace treaty negotiations are expected to continue to be frozen for the foreseeable future, despite Kishida’s calls for their resumption in February this year.

“Kishida is displaying diplomatic goodwill towards Russia, but with no expectations of it being reciprocated…There is little room to fill the interest gap between the two,” said Iwashita.

He added that Russia’s pressure on Japan “will not lead to any results.”

Japan border policy keeps thousands of foreigners in limbo

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

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FILE - Passengers walk through the ticketing counter floor for international flights at the Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, on Dec. 2, 2021. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners have been denied entry to study, work or visit families in Japan, which has kept its doors closed to most overseas visitors during the pandemic. 

(AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)


TOKYO (AP) — More than a year ago Sebastian Bressa finished his paperwork to become a language teacher in Tokyo and made plans to quit his job in Sydney. His life has been in limbo ever since.

Japan has kept its door closed to most foreigners during the pandemic, and the 26-year-old Australian is one of hundreds of thousands denied entry to study, work or see their families.

Japan has become one of the world’s most difficult countries to enter and some are comparing it to the locked country, or “sakoku,” policy of xenophobic warlords who ruled Japan in the 17th to 19th centuries. The current border rules allow in only Japanese nationals and permanent foreign residents, and have raised the ire of foreign students and scholars who say the measures are unfair, unscientific and force talented visitors to go to other countries. Critics say the rules are also hurting Japan’s international profile and national interest.




About half a million foreigners — including academics, researchers and others with highly skilled jobs and 150,000 foreign students — have been affected, various statistics show.

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Japan border policy keeps thousands of foreigners in limbo



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“I think the most difficult thing for me has been this state of living in standby,” Bressa said. He has been unable to commit himself to any long-term plans with his family, friends or even at work. “I can’t plan that far ahead in the future, just not knowing where I end up the next month or two.”

Frustrated students have gathered near Japanese diplomatic compounds around the world to protest.

In Spain’s second-largest city of Barcelona, Laura Vieta stood outside of the Japanese Consulate last week, holding up a sign saying “Stop Japan’s Travel Ban.”

“I gave up my job because I thought I was going to Japan in September,” said Vieta, 25, who wants to study Japanese at a private school for six months or longer. “As you can see, I’m still here.”

Japan plans to keep the border measures in place through the end of February as it copes with a record surge of cases in Tokyo and other major cities. Makoto Shimoaraiso, a Cabinet official working on Japan’s COVID-19 response, said the situation is painful but he asked for patience, noting much higher infection levels overseas.

Japan recently decided to let nearly 400 students enter, but many others including those on foreign government-sponsored scholarships still cannot get in.

A letter to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, signed by hundreds of academics and Japan experts and submitted last month in a petition drive, called for a relaxation of the border controls to enable educators, students and scholars to pursue their studies and work in Japan. It said many already have given up Japan studies, opting to focus elsewhere, such as South Korea.



“They become the bridges between Japan and other societies. They are future policymakers, business leaders, and teachers. They are the foundation of the U.S.-Japan alliance and other international relationships that support Japan’s core national interests,” the letter said. “The closure is harming Japan’s national interests and international relationships.”

Japan is not the only country imposing strict border controls, but the policy is drawing criticism from within Kishida’s governing party and from the business community.

Taro Kono, an outspoken lawmaker who has studied at Georgetown University and served as foreign and defense minister, urged that the government “reopen the country so that students and others waiting for an entry can have a future outlook and make plans.”

Masakazu Tokura, head of Japan’s powerful business organization Keidanren, recently said the border measures were “unrealistic” and are disrupting business. He called for a quick end to “the locked country situation.”

On Thursday, The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, the European Business Council in Japan and the International Bankers Association of Japan, in a joint statement, said the entry ban “has imposed real and increasing economic and human costs.” They urged the government to “quickly adopt a science-based entry policy” to accept vaccinated business travelers, students, teachers and separated family members.

However, the border controls have wide public support. Many Japanese tend to think troubles such as the pandemic come from outside their island nation.

Tightening border controls quickly after omicron outbreaks began overseas may have been unavoidable, Nippon University crisis management professor Mitsuru Fukuda said, but the decision to exclude only foreigners appears aimed at rallying public support. With careful preventive measures, Japan could allow foreign visitors just as many other countries are doing, he said.

“Crisis management is for the protection of people’s daily lives and happiness, and people should not have to compromise their freedom and human rights in exchange for their lives,” Fukuda said.

Japan’s coronavirus cases plunged as delta variant infections subsided in the fall, and Kishida has said closing the border to most foreign travelers in late November helped delay the latest surge in infections. He contends that overreacting is better than doing too little, too late.

He was likely taking a lesson from his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, who stepped aside after only a year in office partly due to his administration’s perceived weak handling of the pandemic.

Japan has just begun giving booster shots, but only 3.5% of the population have received them, and the medical system has been inadequately prepared for the latest huge wave of cases, leaving many sick with COVID-19 to isolate at home.

The border closures did not keep omicron out of U.S. military bases, where Japan has no jurisdiction, including troops that fly directly into the country without observing Japanese quarantine requirements. They were not tested for weeks, until Tokyo asked them to.

Clusters of cases among U.S. troops rapidly spread into neighboring communities including those in Okinawa, home to the majority of the 50,000 American troops in Japan, beginning in late December. Infections at U.S. bases exceeded 6,000 last month.

On Wednesday, Japan reported nearly 95,000 new confirmed cases, a record, and Tokyo’s cases exceeded 20,000 for the first time. Some pandemic restrictions are now in effect in much of Japan, including Tokyo and other big cities like Osaka and Kyoto, for the first time since September.

Phillip Lipscy, a political science professor at Toronto University in Canada who is part of the petition drive, said he was denied entry despite his Japanese roots and his dedication to the study of Japan.

“I grew up in Japan. I am a native speaker of the language, my mother is Japanese and she lives in Tokyo. But under the current policy I cannot enter Japan because of the color of my passport,” Lipscy told an online meeting.

With the outlook uncertain, many people are changing their studies or careers, he said.

“These are fateful decisions with long term consequences,” he said. “The border closure is depriving Japan of a generation of admirer, friends and allies.”

___

Associated Press journalists Chisato Tanaka in Tokyo, Hernán Muñoz in Barcelona, Spain, and Aritz Parra in Madrid contributed to this report.

Japan says Biden's 'xenophobia' comment is regrettable

DW

May 7, 2024

US President Joe Biden's unflattering remarks about "xenophobia" hindering the economic growth of Japan and some other countries prompted Tokyo to express regret.

Last month, Joe Biden held a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (left)

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Japan on Tuesday lamented a "regrettable" recent comment by US President Joe Biden that "xenophobia" was hampering economic growth in the Asian country.

"We lodged representations to the United States that the comment was not based on the correct understanding of Japan's policy and regrettable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

But Hayashi added that Japan's relationship with its security ally was stronger than ever, and Tokyo would work to strengthen it further.

What exactly did Biden say?

Last week, at a fundraiser for his 2024 re-election campaign in Washington, Biden said, "One of the reasons why our economy's growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants."

"Why is China stalling so badly economically, why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong," he added.

Biden's comments have caused some consternation in Japan, which is a largely homogenous country with a relatively low level of immigration.

But a declining birth rate and a rapidly aging population point to an acute labor shortage in the coming decades.

Biden affirms defense commitment with Japan and Philippines  00:28

Longtime partners and allies

The US and Japan are close partners and, along with Germany, Italy, France, the UK and Canada, are members of the G7, the group of leading Western industrialized nations.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Washington in April for a summit with Biden. The leaders unveiled plans for military cooperation and projects ranging from missiles to moon landings to strengthen ties to counter China and Russia.

Asked in a Newsweek interview whether he would encourage immigration to reverse the population decline, Kishida said Japan must consider inviting skilled workers. But he ruled out a broader immigration program.

dh/ab (Reuters, dpa)

Is Japan 'xenophobic' like US President Biden claims?

Julian Ryall in Tokyo

DW

May 6, 2024

US President Joe Biden's recent remarks about foreign labor have provoked pushback from Japan's government. Many Japanese residents echoed that sentiment, though their immigration track record may suggest otherwise.

Japan's attitude toward foreign nationals living and working in the country has been criticized

The Japanese government has expressed "disappointment" with recent remarks made by US President Joe Biden, in which he described Japan as "xenophobic" when it came to immigration policy.

At a campaign fundraiser on the evening of May 1, Biden deemed Japan, along with India, China and Russia, as "xenophobic" as he tried to contrast the nations' economic circumstances to those in the US as a nation of immigrants.

Through diplomatic channels, Tokyo informed the White House that the president's remarks were not based on an "accurate understanding" of Japanese policies, Kyodo News quoted a government official as saying. Many Japanese and foreign residents have also expressed their disagreement with Biden's choice of words.

They cited Japan granting entry to more refugees than ever before last year, tourists consistently receiving a warm welcome and many foreign nationals integrating into Japanese society.

For others in the country, the comment prompted some soul-searching regarding Japan's policies toward asylum-seekers, low refugee numbers and potentially discriminatory checks on foreign nationals.

What did Joe Biden say?

The diplomatic storm was triggered when Biden spoke at an event at a hotel in Washington attended by Asian American voters. "One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others," Biden reportedly said. "Why? Because we welcome immigrants."

He added, "Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they are xenophobic. They don't want immigrants."

Many Japanese remain opposed to large numbers of foreign nationals settling in the country permanently

Image: ZUMA Press/IMAGO

White House officials later attempted to play down the issue, with spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters that the president had been highlighting the US tradition of welcoming immigrants.

"Our allies and partners know very well how much this president respects them," she added.

In addition to the choice of words, many in Japan were upset at Biden lumping the nation together with China and Russia, two nations that have been accused of human rights abuses and that have historically had tense diplomatic relations with Japan.
Xenophobia is 'too strong'

Malcolm Adams, an African American who has lived in Japan for 48 years, said he "respectfully disagrees with the president's characterization of Japan as xenophobic."

"It is true that Japan has historically had strict immigration policies, but it is important to acknowledge the significant strides that country has made in recent years to welcome and accommodate foreign workers," he told DW.

Adams, 74, said Japan has recognized that it faces a demographic crisis of an aging society where too few babies are being born and it is opening up — admittedly gradually — to outside workers to meet the labor shortage. He added that he felt he has been "embraced by Japanese society."

"This country is evolving, and its efforts to address demographic challenges should be commended rather than criticized."

Ken Kato, a businessman from Tokyo, also disagreed with the US president's remarks. "That accusation is completely untrue and unfair," he said. "I would say that Japan is one of the most welcoming nations in the world, which is completely the opposite of what Biden said."

Kato pointed out that modern Japan has historically welcomed foreign ideas, having opened up to the outside world with the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Japan's discriminatory policing

"To generalize that all of Japan is xenophobic or unwelcoming to foreign nationals is completely groundless," said Teppei Kasai, program officer at the Japan office of Human Rights Watch.

However, he admitted that "certain aspects" of society in Japan might be considered less accepting of foreigners.

There are reports that non-Japanese can find it difficult to rent properties as Japanese owners are reluctant to accept foreign tenants. There is also an ongoing legal case against the police over allegations of non-Japanese being stopped and questioned far more frequently than Japanese.

Japanese life as a Ukrainian refugee  02:56

The government and police authorities have strenuously denied they are actively picking out foreigners for questioning after a former inspector who was based in western Japan caused a storm by stating in an interview in April with the Mainichi newspaper that he was told to "target foreigners for questioning and check their foreign resident registration cards."

One month of the year was designated for "cracking down on foreigners," the unnamed former officer said, with police instructed to "put extra effort into checking cards, but also searching foreigners for drugs, knives or anything else illegal."

"It is important to distinguish the problematic policies of the Japanese government and what the general public thinks," said Kasai, pointing to a 2020 government survey which showed that 20% of respondents said they were open to accepting more refugees in a "proactive" manner. A further 57% said they were willing to accept greater numbers of refugees "carefully."

Changing attitudes toward immigration in Japan?

However, getting into Japan can prove challenging. The country granted a "record 303 asylum-seekers" refugee status out of 13,823 applicants in 2023, The Japan Times reported, citing figures from a recent Justice Ministry report. This was a jump from 202 people granted refugee status in 2022.

Japan also practices policies criticized by human rights groups, such as "indefinite" or prolonged detention for migrants requesting asylum and deportation.

The country remains opposed to large numbers of foreign nationals settling permanently. A poll conducted by The Asahi Shimbun newspaper in April indicated that 62% of people support the government policy of granting more visas for skilled workers, up significantly from just 44% in the previous poll conducted in 2018. However, some remain resistant to large-scale immigration.

Kato's own attitude seems indicative of Japan's general mood against "unrestricted immigration."

"We see on television that that policy has not gone well in other countries, and I am not convinced that Japan needs large numbers of foreign workers as within a decade or two, AI, robotics and other technologies will have advanced to such a degree that they will have solved the labor problems," the Tokyo businessman said.

"I don't see this as xenophobia; it's just a sensible policy."

Edited by: Kate Martyr

Japan’s military, among world’s strongest, looks to build

By MARI YAMAGUCHI


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Japanese Ground-Self Defense Force (JGDDF) Type 90 tanks drive toward a target during the annual drill with live ammunitions exercise at Minami Eniwa Camp Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, in Eniwa, northern Japan of Hokkaido. Dozens of tanks are rolling over the next two weeks on Hokkaido, a main military stronghold for a country with perhaps the world's most little known yet powerful army. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

ENIWA, Japan (AP) — Dozens of tanks and soldiers fired explosives and machine guns in drills Monday on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, a main stronghold for a nation that is perhaps the world’s least-known military powerhouse.

Just across the sea from rival Russia, Japan opened up its humbly named Self Defense Force’s firing exercises to the media in a display of public firepower that coincides with a recent escalation of Chinese and Russian military moves around Japanese territory.

The drills, which foreign journalists rarely have a chance to witness, will continue for nine days and include about 1,300 Ground Self Defense Force troops. On Monday, as hundreds of soldiers cheered from the sidelines and waved unit flags, lines of tanks shot at targets meant to represent enemy missiles or armored vehicles.

The exercises illuminate a fascinating, easy-to-miss point. Japan, despite an officially pacifist constitution written when memories of its World War II rampage were still fresh — and painful — boasts a military that puts all but a few nations to shame.

And, with a host of threats lurking in Northeast Asia, its hawkish leaders are eager for more.

It’s not an easy sell. In a nation still reviled by many of its neighbors for its past military actions, and where domestic pacifism runs high, any military buildup is controversial.

Japan has focused on its defensive capabilities and carefully avoids using the word “military” for its troops. But as it looks to defend its territorial and military interests against an assertive China, North Korea and Russia, officials in Tokyo are pushing citizens to put aside widespread unease over a more robust role for the military and support increased defense spending.

As it is, tens of billions of dollars each year have built an arsenal of nearly 1,000 warplanes and dozens of destroyers and submarines. Japan’s forces rival those of Britain and France, and show no sign of slowing down in a pursuit of the best equipment and weapons money can buy.

Not everyone agrees with this buildup. Critics, both Japan’s neighbors and at home, urge Tokyo to learn from its past and pull back from military expansion.

There’s also domestic wariness over nuclear weapons. Japan, the only nation to have atomic bombs dropped on it in war, possesses no nuclear deterrent, unlike other top global militaries, and relies on the so-called U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Proponents of the new military muscle flexing, however, say the expansion is well-timed and crucial to the Japanese alliance with Washington.

China and Russia have stepped up military cooperation in recent years in an attempt to counter growing U.S.-led regional partnerships.

In October, a fleet of five warships each from China and Russia circled Japan as they traveled through the Pacific to the East China Sea. Last month, their warplanes flew together near Japan’s airspace, causing Japanese fighter jets to scramble. In fiscal year 2020 through March, Japanese fighters scrambled more than 700 times — two-thirds against Chinese warplanes, with the remainder mostly against Russians — the Defense Ministry said.

Russia’s military also recently deployed coastal defense missile systems, the Bastion, near disputed islands off the northern coast of Hokkaido.

Japan was disarmed after its WW II defeat. But a month after the Korean War began in 1950, U.S. occupation forces in Japan created a 75,000-member lightly armed de facto army called the National Police Reserve. The Self Defense Force, the country’s current military, was founded in 1954.

Today, Japan is ranked fifth globally in overall military power after the United States, Russia, China and India, and its defense budget ranked sixth in the 2021 ranking of 140 countries by the Global Firepower rating site.

During archconservative former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s more than eight-year rule, which ended a year ago, Japan significantly expanded its military role and budget. Abe also watered down the war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution in 2015, allowing Japan to come to the defense of the United States and other partner nations.

Japan has rapidly stepped up its military role in its alliance with Washington, and has made more purchases of costly American weapons and equipment, including fighter jets and missile interceptors.

“Japan faces different risks coming from multiple fronts,” said defense expert Heigo Sato, a professor at the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University in Tokyo.

Among those risks are North Korea’s increased willingness to test high-powered missiles and other weapons, provocations by armed Chinese fishing boats and coast guard ships, and Russia’s deployment of missiles and naval forces.

One of North Korea’s missiles flew over Hokkaido, landing in the Pacific in 2017. In September, another fell within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone off northwestern Japan.

Under a bilateral security pact, Japan hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, mostly on the southern island of Okinawa, which, along with Japanese units in Hokkaido, are strategically crucial to the U.S. presence in the Pacific.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October, said during his first troop review that he would consider “all options,” including possibly pursuing pre-emptive strike capabilities to further “increase Japan’s defense power” — a divisive issue that opponents say violates the constitution.

Japan has more than 900 warplanes, 48 destroyers, including eight Aegis missile-combating systems, and 20 submarines. That exceeds Britain, Germany and Italy. Japan is also buying 147 F-35s, including 42 F-35Bs, making it the largest user of American stealth fighters outside of the United States, where 353 are to be deployed.

Their deployment is crucial for Japanese defense in the Indo-Pacific, and the country is now retrofitting two flattops, the Izumo and Kaga, as the country’s first aircraft carriers since the end of the World War II.

Among Japan’s biggest worries is China’s increased naval activity, including an aircraft carrier that has been repeatedly spotted off Japan’s southern coasts.

Japan has customarily maintained a defense budget cap at 1% of its GDP, though in recent years the country has faced calls from Washington to spend more.

Kishida says he is open to doubling the cap to the NATO standard of 2%.

As a first step, his Cabinet recently approved a 770 billion yen ($6.8 billion) extra budget for the fiscal year to accelerate missile defense and reconnaissance activity around Japanese territorial seas and airspace, and to bolster mobility and emergency responses to defend its remote East China Sea islands. That would bring the 2021 defense spending total to 6.1 trillion yen ($53.2 billion), up 15% from the previous year, and 1.09% of Japan’s GDP.

Experts say a defense budget increase is the price Japan must pay now to make up for a shortfall during much of the postwar era, when the country prioritized economic growth over national security.

As China is playing tough in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as a regional flashpoint, with Japan, the United States and other democracies developing closer ties with the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as a renegade territory to be united by force if necessary.

China’s buildup of military facilities in the South China Sea has heightened Tokyo’s concerns in the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands are also claimed by Beijing, which calls them Diaoyu. China has sent a fleet of armed coast guard boats to routinely circle them and to go in and out of Japanese-claimed waters, sometimes chasing Japanese fishing boats in the area.

Japan deploys PAC3 land-to-air missile interceptors on its westernmost island of Yonaguni, which is only 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Taiwan.

In part because of a relative decline of America’s global influence, Japan has expanded military partnerships and joint exercises beyond its alliance with the United States, including with Australia, Canada, Britain, France and other European countries, as well as in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Japan also cooperates with NATO.

Despite the government’s argument that more is needed, there are worries domestically over Japan’s rapid expansion of defense capabilities and costs.

“Although the defense policy needs to respond flexibly to changes in the national security environment, a soaring defense budget could cause neighboring countries to misunderstand that Japan is becoming a military power and accelerate an arms race,” the newspaper Tokyo Shimbun said in a recent editorial.

___

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FOCUS: Resource-poor Japan cautious about sanctions targeting Russian energy

共同通信社 15/03/2022

While some Western countries have been backing away from energy resources from Russia as part of sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, resource-poor Japan is taking a more cautious approach due to its heavy dependence on energy imports

.

© 共同通信社

The United States announced earlier this month it will ban Russian oil and other energy imports in what is largely a symbolic move to punish Moscow over its aggression as Washington is not a major importer of Russian oil.

Britain also said that it will phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year.

But experts said it is not easy for Japan and its companies to follow suit, including giving up their stakes in the Sakhalin 1 and Sakhalin 2 large-scale oil and gas projects in the Russian Far East due to their importance to Japan's energy security.

Japan's energy self-sufficiency rate was as low as 11.2 percent as of fiscal 2020 through March 2021, according to Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Russia accounted for 3.6 percent of Japanese crude oil imports, and 8.8 percent of its liquefied natural gas imports in 2021, data from the Japan External Trade Organization show.

The response of the Japanese government and companies to the Sakhalin 1 and Sakhalin 2 projects has been in focus since oil majors Shell PLC of Britain and American Exxon Mobil Corp. announced ends to their respective involvements in them following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Japan's Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co., invested in by the government as well as trading houses Itochu Corp. and Marubeni Corp. among others, owns a 30 percent stake in Sakhalin 1.

Trading houses Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. hold a 12.5 percent and 10 percent stake, respectively, in the Sakhalin 2 project, in which Russian energy giant Gazprom PJSC has about a 50 percent stake. The joint venture produces most of Japan's gas imports from Moscow.

Hiroshi Hashimoto, head of the gas group at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, said he believes it is "unrealistic" for Japan to pull out of the Sakhalin projects in view of the potential blow to the Japanese economy and people's lives.

"Japan is in a different position from oil majors from other countries rich in their own resources," Hashimoto said, stressing the importance of the Sakhalin projects for stable energy supplies to Japan.

Japan has been promoting energy imports from Russia due to its geographical vicinity and the necessity to reduce its reliance on the Middle East. Sakhalin island, which hosts the two projects, is located north of Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido.

The Sakhalin 1 project, from which Exxon Mobil announced its withdrawal, was launched in 1995 and has been supplying Japan with crude oil since 2006.

Meanwhile, the Sakhalin 2 venture, the project exited by Shell, has an annual output capacity of about 10 million tons of LNG, with Japan, China and South Korea among the major importers. It began LNG exports in 2009.

Taisuke Abiru, senior research fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said the Sakhalin 2 project is not "simply a corporate venture" for Japan.

"There have been concerns over the project in light of the risk to the companies' reputations. But Mitsui and Mitsubishi seem to recognize its importance in ensuring Japan's energy security," he said.

Both companies have said they will continue discussions about the project with the Japanese government and other relevant stakeholders.

Hashimoto said Japan would have to find alternative energy sources if it pulls out of the projects, which could lead to higher energy prices. The country might need to turn more to renewable energy or nuclear power generation, or ask people to save energy to make up for the loss.

Senior Japanese government officials and business leaders have also underlined the country's difficult position, expressing reluctance to reach a decision immediately.

Koichi Hagiuda, Japan's industry minister, said last week Japan should take a "wait-and-see" approach over joining Western nations in pulling the plug on the energy projects.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a press conference earlier this month that ensuring a stable energy supply is a "national interest that must be protected with maximum" efforts.

He said a decision on the Sakhalin 1 venture, which involves the Japanese government given its stake in Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co., must be made following a sufficient assessment of the situation from the standpoint of stabilizing Japan's energy supply and security.

Hashimoto of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, said Tokyo must also consider when mulling pulling out of the projects whether companies from other countries would simply take Japan's place in the ventures, rendering the sanctions step ineffective.

As the Ukraine crisis continues, the world faces the issue of how to deal with Russia and how much they should depend on the country, Abiru of the Sasakawa foundation said.

"Russia is one of the largest natural gas and crude oil producers, so it is difficult to completely remove Moscow from the global economy in the short run," he said.

But for Japan, Abiru said, continuing participation in the two Sakhalin projects may bring benefits in the long run.

"The relationship between Japan and Russia has worsened due to the Ukraine crisis. But if the two countries continue energy cooperation, it may be a catalyst for improving ties in the future," he said.

© 共同通信社

Ukraine war: Japanese firms’ Russia ties in firing line as pressure mounts over invasion

Japanese firms have largely taken a wait-and-see approach so far. Prominent companies are likely to feel more heat as Western investors pare back ties to Russia

Corporate executives say privately they are worried about reputational damage, as government officials hint Japan cannot just walk away from Russian energy

Reuters in Tokyo

People protest in Tokyo on Sunday against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photo: EPA

Japanese firms are under deepening pressure over their ties to Russia and are scrambling to assess their operations, company and government insiders said, after Western rivals halted businesses and condemned Moscow for invading Ukraine.

While environmental, social and governance (ESG) investors have previously targeted companies in Japan for fossil fuels, scrutiny over Russia could become intense. Executives say privately they are worried about reputational damage, a sign corporate Japan is – however reluctantly – becoming more responsive to pressure on social issues.

Japan’s trading houses, commodities giants long seen as quasi-governmental arms integral to Japan’s energy supply, have big ties to Russia. Last year Russia was Japan’s second-biggest supplier of thermal coal and its fifth-largest of both crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

A Japanese-made liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier is seen anchored near an LNG plant on the Russian island of Sakhalin. Photo: Reuters

“The energy issue has implications for national and public interest, so it has to be discussed properly with the government,” said one trading house insider, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity.

“But we also have to think about our corporate value and about how we explain this to our shareholders. It’s a difficult position.”

Gulf exporters stay neutral as Europe fears for Russian gas supplies
9 Mar 2022


Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp have stakes in the giant Sakhalin-2 LNG project Shell is now exiting. Itochu Corp and Marubeni Corp have invested in the Sakhalin-1 oil project that ExxonMobil is pulling out of.

Mitsui and Mitsubishi said they would consider the situation, together with the Japanese government and partners. Itochu and Marubeni declined to comment on their plans related to Sakhalin-1.

Japanese firms have largely said they are watching the situation. Those that have halted activity have tended to cite supply-chain disruption rather than human rights.

A senior executive at a carmaker said management at his company was holding daily meetings to gauge the impact of financial sanctions and the implication for parts supply.

“We’re also discussing reputational risk and how to deal with the news from the point of view of human rights and ESG – of course we’re aware of that,” said the executive.

“But we can’t just immediately decide we’re going to pull out because we can’t tell how long the Ukraine crisis will continue.”

Japanese firms typically do not face the same level of scrutiny from shareholders, customers, regulators and even their own employees that Western companies now confront, said Jana Jevcakova, the international head of ESG at shareholder services firm Morrow Sodali.

“Most Japanese companies still don’t have a majority of international institutional investors. Those that do will very shortly, or already are, feel the pressure.”

Reliant on Russia

A manufacturing executive said his company felt a responsibility to local staff in Russia but was also concerned about the risk of saying nothing.

“Japanese companies have been slow to react. Too slow. And I can’t agree with that,” he said. “If we keep quiet and just continue manufacturing and selling, we will likely face a risk to our reputation.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has unveiled steps to help cushion the blow from higher oil prices, but it is unclear what the government will do about broader dependence on Russia. Japan’s imports from Russia totalled around US$11 billion in 2020.

Government officials say privately Japan cannot just walk away from Russian energy, even as they acknowledge the peril.

People march in the central Japanese city of Nagoya on Sunday to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Kyodo

“If Japan remains invested in Russia, that itself runs the risk of drawing criticism” should the conflict be prolonged, said an official close to Kishida.

In a moment of rare outspokenness for the leader of a state-owned lender, the head of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation said last week that “it would not be right” for companies to stick to business as usual in Russia. Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co have stopped exports to Russia, citing logistics issues, with Toyota halting local production.

Nissan, Mazda Motor Corp and Mitsubishi Motors Corp are all likely to stop local production when parts inventories run out, they say.

Japan’s most prominent companies are likely to feel more heat as Western investors themselves pare back ties to Russia.

Russian warships in waters off Japan in ‘warning’ over Ukraine


“We believe good corporate citizenship includes support of governmental sanctions, as well as closing down activities that might fall outside the current sanctions,” said Anders Schelde, chief investment officer at Danish pension fund AkademikerPension, which has US$21.3 billion of assets under management and US$342 million exposure to Japanese equities.

“From a financial point of view this might mean companies suffer short-term losses, but given the long-term stigmatisation of Russia that is likely, the long-term cost will not change much.”

Ukraine war triggers debate on Japan’s nuclear option

In a new and volatile strategic environment, a decades-old commitment on non-proliferation is up for discussion.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has rejected the idea of hosting US nuclear weapons facilities (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Getty Images)

PURNENDRA JAIN
THE INTERPRETER
Published 14 Mar 2022  

In the wake of the Ukraine conflict, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister and now head of the largest faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has suggested that Japan consider hosting US nuclear weapons facilities on Japanese soil, similar to some European nations, such as Germany, which have nuclear sharing arrangements with the United States.

Abe’s suggestion was made in the context of Ukraine having renounced nuclear weapons in 1994, leaving itself vulnerable today. The announcement also comes on top of deepening concerns about China’s growing military assertiveness around Japan’s maritime space and beyond, and the dangerous situation on the Korean peninsula with threats from the nuclear-capable rocket-launching North Korea.

Debates over whether Japan should host nuclear weapons or even go fully nuclear are not new. In the mid-1970s, a book-length study by John Endicott considered the nuclear option. In the early 2000s, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe (both of whom later served as prime minister) again raised this prospect. It was quickly put to rest by Japan’s security analysts. Discussion has since continued among political and scholarly communities as to whether Japan should go nuclear, opt for a nuclear sharing arrangement with the United States by hosting nuclear weapons, or maintain its current non-nuclear weapons status.

Some smaller conservative opposition parties want to include nuclear options in policy discussions while considering Japan’s strategic objectives.

This latest eruption though is in a different context. This time, chairman of the General Council of the LDP Tatsuo Fukuda, who like his father Yasuo Fukuda before him holds an influential ruling party post and is touted as a future prime minister, has suggested that “we must not shy away from any debate whatsoever”. Last year’s LDP party presidential candidate and current LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi also favours a debate. Some smaller conservative opposition parties want to include nuclear options in policy discussions while considering Japan’s strategic objectives. The main opposition parties have, however, strongly resisted any such prospects, arguing in favour of Japan’s non-nuclear status.

Abe’s suggestion was promptly and solidly rejected by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as by the leader of the Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling LDP. Even Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, Abe’s younger brother, adopted into the Kishi family, also dismissed the idea of hosting nuclear weapons on Japanese shores. Kishi may have expressed this view in order to align with his boss, Prime Minister Kishida, rather than reflecting his true thinking on the matter, given his political pedigree

.

There is significant public opposition to raising Japan’s defence spending to two per cent of GDP 

(Alan Wilson/Flickr)

Kishida quickly confirmed that Japan firmly adheres to the three non-nuclear principles adopted in 1967, to not possess, produce or permit the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japan’s territory. These principles remain sacrosanct, even though Japan has made substantial departures in defence and security matters in the past decade.

Abe’s comments can be understood in this context, which emanates from a rapidly evolving strategic environment, regionally as well as globally. As prime minister, Abe had introduced several policy initiatives that were unthinkable in previous decades, such as removing bans on defence-related exports, allowing Japan to work with allies and partners in collective self-defence, establishing Japan’s first National Security Council (NSC), and issuing the first-ever National Security Strategy (NSS).

Not only has the Kishida government announced an intended update to the NSS, first issued in 2013, it has also promised to revise the National Defence Program Guidelines and Mid-Term Defence Program issued in 2013 and 2018. All these updates and revisions are undertaken in view of a rapid transformation in the strategic environment.

The long-time self-imposed constraints on Japan’s defence spending, keeping it to less than one per cent of GDP, are also likely to be breached soon.

The Kishida government is likely to go even further and consider acquiring strike capabilities to ensure Japan’s territorial integrity and the safety of its people as well as protect US military assets in Japan, including some 50,000 US defence personnel.

The long-time self-imposed constraints on Japan’s defence spending, keeping it to less than one per cent of GDP, are also likely to be breached soon. The LDP under Kishida’s leadership has promoted for the first time the idea of spending two per cent of GDP in its policy documents just before the last general election in October 2021. Although such a change seems unlikely any time soon due to Japan’s poor fiscal health and significant public opposition, defence spending will definitely increase, as it has over the past decade.

Japan, along with Germany, has often been recognised as an example of a “civilian state”. Germany currently hosts US nuclear weapons facilities and, in view of the Ukraine conflict, has announced a significant increase to its defence budget. Calls are now being made to urge Japan to follow suit.

The postwar US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security has ensured that Japan has lived happily under US extended deterrence, including the nuclear umbrella. This arrangement is unlikely to change, barring an existential threat to Japan’s territory and sovereignty. But what seemed to be taboo in terms of Japan’s strategic policy – that is, breaching one per cent of GDP on defence spending and developing strike capabilities – is now being discussed seriously. No policy in international relations is eternal, it must change as a nation’s interests change.

GAIA LIVES

New island that emerged from the ocean off Japan is now visible from space

Hannah Osborne
Fri, November 10, 2023

The new island that emerged after an underwater volcanic eruption off Japan's Iwo Jima seen from space

A newborn island that recently emerged from the Pacific Ocean after an underwater volcanic eruption is now visible from space, images from the European Space Agency (ESA) reveal. The satellite images show the new landmass sitting around 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) off the coast off Japan's Iwo Jima island.

The submerged volcano began erupting on Oct. 21, with activity ramping up over the next 10 days. By Oct. 30, explosions were taking place every few minutes, according to a translated statement. The eruption threw large lumps of rock into the air, and shot a jet of gas and ash over 160 feet (50 meters) almost vertically above the water's surface.

Related: Scientists discover ancient, underwater volcano is still active — and covered in up to a million giant eggs

Since the volcano started erupting, "volcanic ash and rocks have piled up to form the new island, which is now also visible from space," a statement from the ESA said. The latest image was captured with the Landsat 9 satellite on Nov. 3. It shows Iwo Jima — which sits around 750 miles (1,200 km) south of Tokyo — before and after the latest eruption.

A close up of the new island that formed after a volcanic eruption.

Along with the new island, the volcano also produced a sea of floating pumice — an extremely porous type of rock that forms during explosive eruptions. New analysis of this pumice found its chemical composition differed from that of ejecta from other volcanoes in this chain, according to a different translated statement. The pumice likely came from an eruption along the back-arc rift zone — the area behind a volcanic arc, the statement noted.

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The latest eruption is in almost the exact same spot as one that took place in July 2022, suggesting magma activity is resuming at Iwo Jima. The eruption has now subsided, Yuji Usui, an analyst with the Japan Meteorological Agency, told the AP.

The new island was approximately 330 feet (100 m) wide and up to 66 feet (20 m) high, but it appears to be shrinking as the waves erode the "crumbly" rock, Usui said. Whether the new island will survive is unclear and depends on what it is made of: If it is lava, it could remain for longer. "We just have to see the development," he told the AP.

A volcanic eruption gave birth to a new island, and a NASA satellite saw it from space (photo)

Robert Lea
Fri, November 10, 2023 

A split-screen image of an island formed from a volcano eruption.

A NASA satellite has spotted a newly formed island off the coast of Japan that experienced a fiery birth at the end of October.

The joint NASA/U.S. Geological Survey satellite Landsat-9 saw the island rise from the sea off the coast of Iwo Jima island, part of the Volcano Islands archipelago in south Japan, on Nov. 3.

The island was born 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) south of Tokyo between 12:20 and 12:35 local time on Oct. 30 when blisteringly hot magma fell into the ocean and exploded, creating chunks of rock several feet long more than 160 feet (50 meters) into the air, according to the University of Tokyo.

"According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the eruption appears to have started on October 21, 2023," University of Tokyo researchers wrote. "The location of this eruption is almost the same as the 2022 eruption location and is thought to indicate the resumption of magma activity on Iwo Jima."

The underwater eruptions broke the ocean's surface at two locations in the form of explosions at the southern tip of Iwo Jima, and rocks gathered to the north of these explosions. This growing rubble pile eventually formed a 330-foot (100-meter) wide island, around half a mile (1 kilometer) from Iwo Jima, sat in discolored water littered with very porous rock called pumice.

An extremely light rock, pumice is created when lava with a very high content of water and gases is discharged from a volcano. As gas bubbles escape this lava, it becomes "frothy," cooling and hardening into a bubble-filled rock.

Landsat-9 saw the island from its position 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth on Nov. 3, and this image was compared to observations of the region collected by the same satellite on Oct. 18 in which the island was not present.

The birth of the island was witnessed by a craft much closer to home when an aircraft owned by Mainichi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, was the initial stages of an underwater eruption in the southern part of the Izu-Ogasawara arc — an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean.

The site of the new island has been a hotbed of underwater eruptions of steam and lava over recent years, University of Toyko researchers said, adding that this is one of the fastest-rising caldera volcanoes — a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses — in the world.

Watch: New island appears off Japan coast – but it might not last long
Danielle Demetriou
Fri, November 10, 2023 

Earth and sand are sent into the air above a new islet off the coast of Iwoto island in Ogasawara, Tokyo, Japan - The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images


A small new island has appeared unexpectedly off the coast of Japan following the eruption of an undersea volcano, although experts warn it may be washed away before long.

The land mass emerged from the Pacific Ocean after the volcano began a series of underwater eruptions late last month near the Ogasawara island chain.

It sits around 745 miles south of Tokyo and half a mile off Iwo Jima.

Eruptions led to volcanic ash and rocks accumulating on a shallow seabed and within 10 days, the tip of the unnamed island eventually emerged above the water.

The newly formed land mass then continued to grow, expanding to dimensions of around 330 feet in diameter, with a highest point of some 66 feet above sea level, by early November.

But volcanic activity at the site has since subsided and the island has now begun to shrink because its “crumbly” formation is easily washed away by waves, according to Yuji Usui, an analyst in the Japan Meteorological Agency’s volcanic division.

“We just have to see the development,” he said. “But the island may not last very long.”

The new landmass has risen from waters about half a mile off the coast of Iwoto – a volcanic island previously known as Iwo Jima, which was the scene of intense fighting during the Second World War.

In this aerial photo, plume billows out from the water off the Ioto island, following an eruption in Ogasawara, southern Tokyo, Japan - Kyodo News via AP

Fukashi Maeno, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute, discussed the creation of the island after flying over the site late last month.

Magma and seawater reportedly interacted to cause plumes of smoke to rise as high as 160 feet into the air every few minutes during eruptions, with large rocks also spewed from the waters, Mr Maeno told local media.

The intensity of the eruptions also caused the seawater to change colour, while pumice stones were spotted floating around the new island, he added.

The emergence of a new island is the latest in a long history of intense volcanic activity for Japan, one of the most seismically sensitive countries in the world, with more than 100 active volcanoes.

Undersea volcanoes and seismic activities have formed new islands in the past.

In 2013, an eruption at Nishinoshima in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo led to the formation of a new island, which kept growing during a decade long eruption of the volcano.

Located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Japanese archipelago spans the convergence of several major tectonic plates, resulting in centuries of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Experts are currently monitoring the region surrounding the new island to determine whether it will become a permanent fixture on Japan’s map or disappear.

The new island could survive longer if it is made of lava, or something more durable than volcanic rocks such as pumice.

An official at the Japan Meteorological Agency told local media: “If only a cinder eruption, as it is now, it will be eroded by waves and is unlikely to remain for a long time, but if it turns into an eruption with lava, it may remain for quite a while.”

New island forms in Japan after undersea volcano erupts but experts warn it may not last long

Joanna Adhem
Fri, November 10, 2023

In a remarkable event that unfolded three weeks ago, the eruption of an undersea volcano off the southern coast of Iwo Jima has created a new island.

Despite the awe-inspiring nature of this phenomenon, experts caution that the newfound landmass may not last long.

The unnamed undersea volcano, located roughly 1 kilometre off the coast of Iwo Jima - known as Ioto in Japan - and 1,200 kilometres south of Tokyo, erupted on October 21.

In just 10 days, volcanic ash and rocks built up on the shallow seabed, forming an island that emerged from below the water's surface.

By early November it was approximately 100 meters in diameter and had reached a height of 20 meters above sea level, according to Yuji Usui from the Japan Meteorological Agency's volcanic division.

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How long do experts think the island will last?

Two similar undersea eruptions have been documented in recent years, but the emergence of a distinct landmass is a rare occurrence.

The fragile nature of its composition, described as "crumbly" by Usui, makes it susceptible to erosion by ocean waves. Ongoing analysis by experts includes an examination of the deposits to determine exactly what it is made of.

It is still possible that the island could survive for a more extended period if it is composed of more durable materials such as lava, as opposed to the easily weathered volcanic rocks like pumice.

Japan has 111 of the roughly 1,500 active volcanoes in the world, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire” - a 40,000-kilometre-long chain of volcanos and seismically active sites which is home to much of the world’s volcanic and earthquake activity.

Watch the video above to learn more about Japan's newest volcanic island.

Volcano creates a new island off Japan, but it may not last

The Associated Press
Fri, November 10, 2023 



TOKYO (AP) — An undersea volcano erupted off Japan three weeks ago, providing a rare view of the birth of a tiny new island, but experts say it may not last very long.

The unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21.

Within 10 days, volcanic ash and rocks piled up on the shallow seabed, its tip rising above the sea surface. By early November, it became a new island about 100 meters (328 feet) in diameter and as high as 20 meters (66 feet) above the sea, according to Yuji Usui, an analyst in the Japan Meteorological Agency’s volcanic division.

This aerial photo shows steam billowing from the waters off Iwoto Island, Ogasawara town in the Pacific Ocean, southern Tokyo, on Oct. 30, 2023. A new island, 100 meters in diameter, formed by erupted rock, is seen near the steam, according to Kyodo News. (Kyodo News via AP)More


In this photo provided by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, steam billows from the waters off Ioto island, Ogasawara town in the Pacific Ocean, southern Tokyo, on Nov. 1, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force via AP)More


In this aerial photo, plume billows from the water off the Ioto island, following an eruption in Ogasawara, southern Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 30, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. (Kyodo News via AP)More


In this aerial photo, plume billows out from the water off the Ioto island, following an eruption in Ogasawara, southern Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 30, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. (Kyodo News via AP)More


In this aerial photo, plume billows from the water off the Ioto island, seen rear, following an eruption in Ogasawara, southern Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 30, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. (Kyodo News via AP)More


This aerial photo shows steam billowing from the waters off Iwoto Island, Ogasawara town in the Pacific Ocean, southern Tokyo, on Oct. 30, 2023. A new island, 100 meters in diameter, formed by erupted rock, is seen near the steam, according to Kyodo News. (Kyodo News via AP)More


This aerial photo shows steam billowing from the waters off Iwoto Island, Ogasawara town in the Pacific Ocean, southern Tokyo, on Oct. 30, 2023. A new island, 100 meters in diameter, formed by erupted rock, is seen near the steam, according to Kyodo News. (Kyodo News via AP)More


In this aerial photo, smoke billows from the water off the Ioto island, following an eruption in Ogasawara, southern Tokyo, Japan on Oct. 30, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. (Kyodo News via AP)More


In this aerial photo, plume billows from the water off the Ioto island, following an eruption in Ogasawara, southern Tokyo, Japan, on Oct. 30, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. (Kyodo News via AP)More

Volcanic activity has increased near Iwo Jima and similar undersea eruptions have occurred in recent years, but the formation of a new island is a significant development, Usui said.

Volcanic activity at the site has since subsided, and the newly formed island has somewhat shrunk because its “crumbly” formation is easily washed away by waves, Usui said.

He said experts are still analyzing the development, including details of the deposits. The new island could survive longer if it is made of lava or something more durable than volcanic rocks such as pumice.

“We just have to see the development,” he said. “But the island may not last very long.”

Undersea volcanoes and seismic activities have formed new islands in the past.

In 2013, an eruption at Nishinoshima in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo led to the formation of a new island, which kept growing during a decadelong eruption of the volcano.

Also in 2013, a small island surfaced from the seabed after a massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan. In 2015, a new island was formed as a result of a monthlong eruption of a submarine volcano off the coast of Tonga.

Of about 1,500 active volcanoes in the world, 111 are in Japan, which sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Iwo Jima was the site of some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, and the photograph taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal of a flag-raising atop the island’s Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, came to symbolize the Pacific War and the valor of the U.S. Marines.

World’s newest island forms off the coast of Japan thanks to undersea volcano

Rebecca Olds
Fri, November 10, 2023

In this photo provided by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, steam billows from the waters off Ioto island, Ogasawara town in the Pacific Ocean, southern Tokyo, on Nov. 1, 2023. An unnamed undersea volcano, located about half a mile off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. 

| Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force 


A new island formed a week ago off the coast of the Japanese island Iwo Jima thanks to the work of an undersea volcano.

The unnamed volcano first began erupting on Oct. 21 and has spewed enough volcanic ash and rocks to start the formation of a new island, reported The Associated Press. The island is about 328 feet across and 66 feet above sea level.

One expert, Yuji Usui from the Japan Meteorological Agency’s volcanic division, told the AP that the island’s “crumbly” formation could be washed away by waves.

“We just have to see the development,” Usui said. “But the island may not last very long.”

For now, the volcano continues to eject a mixture of large gray particles and magma. No injuries have been reported from the event, reported The New York Times.
How can islands be created?

Islands can be created in a variety of ways, but the new island off the coast of Japan is attributed to the build-up of enough material from the underwater volcano that the pile has reached the surface, per The Associated Press.
Did Japan find 7,000 new islands?

The new island adds to the thousands discovered earlier this year in the region.

The Guardian reported that it was previously thought that the Japanese archipelago had around 6,000 smaller islands with four main ones. Then, digital mapping discovered that there were actually more than twice that many.

More than 7,000 new islands were discovered in early 2023.

Japan recounts its number of islands, discovering more than 7,000

How many islands make up Japan in 2023?

With the discovery earlier this year, Japanese geographers believe there are a total of 14,152 islands in the region.

And it’s possible that more, smaller islands will continue to pop up since the area is part of the “Ring of Fire” region, known for volcanoes, per The Associated Press. Currently, 111 out of the world’s 1,500 active volcanos are in Japan.
What type of volcano is found on the islands of Japan?

The main type of volcano found in Japan is the stratovolcano, or composite volcano, per the National Parks of Japan. These volcanoes are created by layer after layer of ash and rock, especially pumice. There are also cinder cones and lava dome volcanoes in the country.
Are there any active volcanoes in Japan?

Most of the volcanos in Japan are considered “active” because they’ve erupted in the past 10,000 years, including the most famous Mount Fuji volcano, which hasn’t erupted since 1707, per the National Parks of Japan.

Sakurajima is considered the most active in the country because it experiences small eruptions almost daily, per the travel website Japan Guide.

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