High expectations and shallow promises

Friday, December 16th concluded Putin's two-day trip to Japan in which he met with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. The two met to talk about a territorial dispute between four islands north of Japan, but it seemed that the meetings only bore shallow business plans between Japan and Russia and, in the end, Abe walked home empty handed with still no real solution to the dispute he had hoped to resolve. 

Known to Russia as the southern Kurile islands and to Japan as the Northern Territories, these islands have created tension between the two countries for over 70 years. Captured by the Soviet Union just days before World War 2's end, ownership now lies between two countries that both claim the islands as their own, and this dispute has prevented them from ever signing a peace treaty. 

From these meetings, Abe, as well as many hopeful Japanese, hoped to find a solution to the dispute, or at least take a step towards a solution, but expectations fell very short. From the beginning, Putin seemed to show what his motives for a solution were as he arrived in Japan two hours late on Thursday, as well as being one hour late to his meeting on Friday, something quite serious to the Japanese who are very keen on punctuality. "It would be naive to think we can solve this problem in an hour," said Putin during a news conference, "but there is no doubt we need to look for a solution." However, the solution Putin and Abe worked towards Thursday and Friday seemed to be the opposite of what Putin was referencing. Both sides reportedly signed a total of 80 documents, many of which dealt with economic ties and commercial matters, including a one billion dollar joint investment fund to promote economic corporation between Japan and Russia. 

Recently, Putin has been interested in investing into Russia's seemingly undeveloped far east, and that is exactly what he got during his two-day meeting. "For me, the most important thing is to sign a peace agreement because that would create the conditions for long term co-operation." Putin said. Yet he seemed to have no problem creating co-operation between Russia and Japan with no closer step to signing a peace treaty. Putin denies claims that he was only interested in acquiring economic benefits from Japan. 

Whether Putin truly puts a peace treaty first, or he just knew how to play his cards with Abe, there is no doubt that Russia has no plans of easily giving up. Both sides claim sovereignty over the islands, and if an agreement is to be made, Putin and Abe can't be friends, which is the opposite of what Abe seems to have been portraying, referring to Putin by his first name, an odd and sometimes rude gesture in Japans formal society. If current situations continue, Abe risks losing his supporters and possibly his country.