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11:03 15.09.2026 •
The current crisis in Russian-Japanese relations, caused by Tokyo conservatives’ hardline anti-Russian stance is increasingly driving Sanae Takaichi’s government into a "diplomatic dead end." Attempts to exert pressure on Moscow are running up against geopolitical, military, and economic realities though. Japan’s diplomacy toward Russia is defined by a strategic paradox, as the country is unable either to respond to Russia’s sovereign actions in the Far East or to promptly resolve its own "historical debts" along Russia’s borders, dating back to the Second World War. Once a regional environmental issue, the problem of scrapping the Imperial Japanese Army’s chemical arsenal is now a matter of national security for both China and Russia.
President Putin’s August 13 visit to Iturup Island laid bare the limitations of Tokyo’s foreign policy toolkit. [1] According to Japanese media reports citing diplomatic sources, Sanae Takaichi’s government found itself in a state of a foreign policy Zugzwang - a situation where any further move leads to a disadvantage. The "Iron Lady" was furious about her Foreign Ministry’s failure to obtain advance intelligence regarding the Russian president’s plans. The government’s vague stance on the issue invited criticism from both the rightwing opposition and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is increasingly calling for providing greater assistance to Kyiv as a countermeasure against Moscow. Meanwhile, a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official expressed bewilderment at the Prime Minister’s lack of a clear-cut strategy. "We have not yet received clear instructions," he complained. [2]
Ultimately, a month after the Russian president’s visit to the island, Japan’s "countermeasures" boiled down to just standard "firm protests." Tokyo apparently lacked any real leverage to exert pressure on Moscow. The main reason for the Japanese authorities' "restraint" is the country's critical dependence on hydrocarbon imports from Russia. With the conflict in the Middle East showing no signs of ending any time soon, Tokyo vitally needs unfettered supplies of liquefied natural gas and oil from Russia (specifically, the Sakhalin-2 project). Therefore, any drastic moves regarding Russia could undermine Japan's energy security. Furthermore, the local "economic lobby" is hoping for a speedy resumption of trade ties with Russia. Meanwhile, a Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll conducted following Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Southern Kuril Islands showed that 53 percent of respondents favor dialogue with Russia, with only 39 percent supporting a tougher stance. [3] It turns out that ordinary Japanese people - unlike the elites – deem it important to stick to their "principles" in relations with neighbors within the "Confucian world," while opting for a pragmatic approach to politics beyond those boundaries.
In a clear sign that Moscow no longer intends to "spare the feelings" of Japanese elites, who de facto reject the outcome of World War II, a majestic 15-meter monument was unveiled in Khabarovsk on September 4, commemorating the Soviet victory over militarist Japan. The bronze sculpture shows a Soviet soldier smashing with the butt of his rifle a border post with the chrysanthemum emblem (the official crest and symbol of Japan's ruling dynasty) in a stark reminder of the triumph of the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation and the destruction of the million-strong Kwantung Army. [4] Even while the monument was still under construction, Tokyo demanded that its installation be cancelled, and subsequently called for the monument's immediate dismantling. Ms. Takaichi personally spoke out about the monument "offending the feelings of the Japanese people."[5] Russia ignored the protests, firmly underscoring the fact that the chrysanthemum on the monument symbolizes the historically proven criminal nature of Japan’s militarist regime. The sheer fact that Tokyo is so sensitive about the issue only proves that modern-day Japan has failed to break its "mental ties" to its militarist past.
Therefore, the real threats posed by the legacy of Japanese militarism, including those right along Russia’s borders, look particularly ominous. The thing is that large stockpiles of chemical weapons belonging to the Imperial Japanese Army were abandoned on Chinese territory. Underground storage sites containing un-disposed Japanese chemical agents were previously found outside the Chinese city of Hunchun (Jilin Province), just 20 kilometers from the border with Russia’s Primorsky region. In early September, a team of inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) examined the sites. As Vladimir Tarabrin, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the OPCW, who took part in the inspection, emphasized, the issue of Japanese chemical weapons has long since gone beyond the scope of the Sino-Japanese agenda and poses a direct threat to Russia’s national security. Years of underground storage have inevitably led to the corrosion of the munitions. A possible unsealing of these munitions creates a constant risk of toxic substances leaking into groundwater and transboundary waterways, thus endangering the ecosystem of the Russian Far East. [6]
Under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention [7] and a 1999 Sino-Japanese memorandum, Japan is obligated to provide full funding and technology for, and the actual disposal of, these munitions in China. However, Tokyo has repeatedly missed work deadlines and the disposal process is proceeding at a snail’s pace, despite persistent pressure from Beijing. Each operation involves the highly complex extraction, transport, and destruction of munitions in specialized detonation chambers. Russian experts believe that the complete cleanup of China’s border regions will take decades.
Even though Japanese militarists proved more “successful” in advancing their biological weapons program (Unit 731), they also went a long way in the production of chemical weapons. Okunoshima, a small island in the Inland Sea of Japan, is known today as a "rabbit paradise" thanks to the wild rabbits freely roaming there and attracting tourists from both Japan and other countries. However, during the war, the island was the site of a top-secret poison gas production facility, while a plant on Kyushu was tasked with loading these agents into munitions. An entire chemical warfare infrastructure was thus established, built around a secret military school in Narashino (Chiba Prefecture), which conducted research and trained personnel. During the war years, train windows looking out at the sea along the coast opposite Okunoshima were shuttered for the sake of secrecy. At one point, Okunoshima was even removed from maps. While Japan stopped short of using chemical weapons against the forces of the "Big Three" powers, Chinese soldiers and civilians often fell victim to chemical attacks. These events are rarely discussed in Japanese schools and most people in Japan know Okunoshima just as a charming "rabbit island." [8]
Therefore, what we see here is a clear political and moral paradox. The Japanese government reacts swiftly, even preemptively, to the erection of a monument honoring the heroism of a Soviet soldier in an effort to protect the "reputation" of the Imperial family. Yet, when it comes to eliminating its own deadly legacy, one that is capable of bringing about a trans-border environmental disaster near Russia’s borders, Tokyo displays astonishing sluggishness, ignoring its historical responsibility.
The views of the author are his own and may differ from the position of the Editorial Board.
[1] https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/galleries/2026/08/13/1220826-vizit-putina-na-kurili#140737498831844
[2] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/13/japan/politics/japan-1-month-putin-northern-territories/
[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/japannews/comments/1w48ucx/only_39_of_japanese_favour_a_tougher_stance/
[4] https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8941009
[5] https://inosmi.ru/20260908/yaponiya-280049130.html
[6] https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/6a9aa99f38f515e6ae04f1d1
[7] https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/international_safety/1413313/
[8] https://english.news.cn/20260910/aff3f3adf8d144b2b1d7b16e9ec269cd/c.html
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