Japan, Russia and the Kuril Islands

Russia has presented a list of investment projects on the southern Kuril Islands to South Korea, known in Japan as the Northern Territories. Japan promptly objected to the Russian move. The back-and-forth is only the latest in a long-running territorial dispute. Economic cooperation between the two countries has managed to continue despite the dispute, but even so, the Russian resurgence in the region is an unwelcome addition to Japan's geopolitical fears in the region.