Japan has few cards to play one month after Putin’s isle visit

A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory," referring to the Russian-controlled Southern Kuril Islands claimed by Japan as its Northern Territories, in Tokyo on Aug. 19. | AFP-JIJI

JIJI

Sep 13, 2026

TOKYO – Japan has been unable to take concrete countermeasures since Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a disputed northwestern Pacific island a month ago.

The Takaichi administration has lodged a strong protest following Putin’s Aug. 13 visit to the island of Etorofu, one of the four islands claimed by Tokyo but controlled by Moscow. The four islands, seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II, are called the Northern Territories in Japan.

Still, Tokyo has largely failed to come up with a heftier response, given the need for a stable procurement of oil and natural gas from Russia amid the prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

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