元島民・子孫による北方領土返還運動の形骸化
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概要
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Recent geographical studies of national boundaries/territories in English-speaking countries ave devoted considerable attention to the instability of nation-states mainly due to an upsurge in ethnic nationalism. While territorial issues have generally been regarded as a conflict between the nation-state and ethnic nationalism, other territorial issues between nation-states have attracted relatively little attention. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the movement for restoring the Northern Territories, which constitutes a longstanding problem between Japan and Russia, as an example of these issues, and to examine its implications for geography.The issue of the Northern Territories, which are located east of Hokkaido and belong to Japan, emerged in 1945 when troops of the former USSR occupied them. The movement for the restoration of the Territories to Japan started immediately due to extreme pressure from former islanders and local people whose economic base lay mainly in long shore fisheries. A few years later, organizations for the movement were formed. Their main purpose was to popularize the recognition that the restoration problem was a national task for all Japanese and to plan a process of diplomatic negotiations with present-day Russia. This implies that the restoration movement required nationalism from the Japanese side.From interviews with those in charge of this movement, however, the following findings were obtained. Although the purpose of the movement is to realize restoration by popularizing the territorial issue among all Japanese citizens, the people concerned with the movement cannot directly be engaged in diplomatic negotiations. A promising indication of a settlement has not yet been found. In recent years, the perpetuation of the movement itself has become its prime purpose.Noticeable in this context is a recent division among people concerned with the movement. On the one hand, former islanders and their descendants know that the problem of the Northern Territories is a national problem, particularly the former islanders, for whom the Territories are home and who have shown great support for the movement. On the other hand, people who were not born or who had not grown up there and are thus only under an obligation to be involved in the movement, have not supported it so strongly. Nowadays, it is rather unusual for former islanders and their descendants to expect to migrate to the Territories even after possible restoration, but they generally think that the movement as a national task should continue. Partly due to the development of local exchange with Russians in the Territories, descendants of the younger generation are not necessarily aware that their restoration is a national issue.As a result, the movement framework based on such awareness seems to have been in process of becoming a mere shell, and solidarity within the organizations concerned has weakened. In the meantime, the intention of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning this territorial problem is also related to current international relations, and, as a result, the feelings of former islanders are not fully taken into account. Accordingly, the restoration movement is limited in the sense that the Japanese state does not unit with Japanese citizens.
- 人文地理学会の論文