From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: The Northern Islands
Date: 30 Sep 92 23:45:56 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center

In article <1992Sep28.152257.2783@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
>In article <3985@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda) writes:

>>   I wonder if so many Russian citizens are really feeling like going back to
>>the "good old days."

>People will give up an awful lot in return for relative security. Unfortunate,
>but true.

     I understand it from what happened in Japan in 1930s and what poverty is 
causing in the US.

>Russia does not have the economic might to start another arms race. However, 
>they DO have the nuclear weapons to remain a very dangerous power in unstable
>hands.

     I still don't see the scenario how the Japanese money or giving up
the islands would make the hands stable. Is Yeltsin going to conciliate
them with money?

>It has been my impression that many Japanese are almost completely unaware of
>the events surrounding the Soviet-Japanese relations in WWII. I have yet to
>meet any Japanese who was aware of the Japanese attacks on Soviet positions
>along the Manchurian border. Most of the Japanese I have talked with seem to
>become a little less certain of their moral claim to those islands when they
>find out about it.

   This is a good back-up for showing that at least most of the Japanese that
Fester-san talked with knew about the islands issue. Or were they all 
"provincial nationalists"?

>As for visiting graves, that hardly relevant now, as the Russians are allowing
>that rather freely.

   That's why I said, "had not been" instead of "have not been" or "are not."
"Rather freely." Well said. It's not completely free.

>>However, accusing someone of not giving up or suspending a legitimate claim
>>would not be so diplomatic, either.

>Surely, the point of this whole debate is how "legitimate" that claim is.

   Then, how does this sound?
Accusing someone of not giving up a claim before examining its legitimacy
would not be diplomatic, either.

>>   Boris might have been able to hear the words after a tough negotiation.
>>Did he just chicken out? Or is it taking long for him to learn how to say,
>>"Thank you" in Japanese?

>"Thank you" for what?

     A cup of nice green tea, of course 8-).
     What was he gonna come to Japan for?

.....
>It is difficult to see how Japan can be flattered by this.

   No one ever has given a sh*t about the Northern Islands dispute between
Japan and Russia. For example, I don't think that there have been many 
Americans who were aware of this issue until recently. The issue has been
just one of trivia happening at the end of the world. Only after USSR collapsed,
people seem to have started to talk about how much Japan could contribute to 
the world peace relating the islands issue to it. Wouldn't it make Japan feel
like, "Gee, I didn't know that I'm so influential"?

> Japanese money can
>certainly help Russia. Japanese intransigence helps no one, not even themselves,
>unless of course, Japan stands to gain by a LESS stable nuclear power in the
>region.

     As I already mentioned, I have no objection to Japane's financial aid to
Russia. I'm saying that intermingling two issues - money and islands - might
not be the way to go either for Russia or Japan. If the "Japanese
intransigence" is useless or even obnoxious, how could the obstinate attitude
of the Russian government, which was typically demonstrated by the 
cancellation of Yeltsin's visit, be helpful?

Michiaki Masuda