Japan challenges UN map over disputed Kuril Islands

14:42

By: Azzat Manal

Japan challenges UN map over disputed Kuril Islands

Japan has raised objections to a newly adopted United Nations world map after discovering that the disputed Kuril Islands are depicted in the same colour as Russian territory, despite Tokyo having voted in favour of the resolution approving the map.

The map uses the Equal Earth projection, a cartographic system designed to represent the relative size of continents more accurately than traditional projections such as the Mercator map. Under the new projection, Africa appears significantly larger than it does on many conventional world maps, while Europe and North America occupy a smaller proportion of the visual representation.

The United Nations General Assembly approved the new map with the support of 164 member states. Japan was among those backing the decision, but later raised concerns about how the disputed islands were represented.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the depiction was inconsistent with Tokyo’s official position. According to the Japanese government, diplomatic channels were used to request that the map’s operator correct the representation in order to prevent what Tokyo described as misunderstandings concerning its territorial claims and geographical names.

The dispute centres on four islands in the southern part of the Kuril chain, which Japan refers to as the Northern Territories. Russia has controlled the islands since the final stages of the Second World War, while Japan continues to claim sovereignty over them. The disagreement has remained one of the most persistent territorial disputes between the two countries and has complicated efforts to conclude a formal post-war peace treaty.

Japan bases its territorial position partly on the 1855 Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation between Japan and Russia. Moscow, however, maintains that Russian sovereignty over the islands was established as a consequence of the Second World War and that the territorial issue has been definitively settled.

The disagreement has periodically resurfaced in diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Moscow. Japan has repeatedly protested Russian political and military activities on the disputed islands, while Russia has rejected Tokyo’s objections and defended its presence in the region.

The issue gained renewed attention after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iturup, one of the disputed islands. Japan lodged a strong diplomatic protest over the visit, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticised Tokyo’s reaction and said Japanese officials had gone too far in their statements regarding the Russian president’s visit.

The controversy surrounding the Equal Earth map also illustrates how cartographic representations can become politically sensitive when they involve territories whose sovereignty is disputed. Although maps are generally intended to provide geographical information, the colours, borders and names used to depict contested areas can carry significant diplomatic implications.

Japan is not the only country to have raised concerns about the new map. Ukraine reportedly abstained from the UN vote after objecting to the way Crimea was represented. Ukrainian representatives argued that depicting the peninsula separately from the rest of the country could create legal and political problems and potentially undermine established principles concerning territorial integrity.

The Equal Earth projection itself was developed as an alternative to maps that distort the apparent size of countries and continents. Its designers sought to preserve relative area more faithfully while maintaining a visually balanced representation of the globe. The projection has consequently attracted interest among cartographers and institutions looking for alternatives to traditional world maps.

However, the dispute over the Kuril Islands demonstrates that even a scientifically designed map can become controversial when it is used to represent politically contested territories. For Japan, the colour assigned to the islands is not simply a cartographic detail but an issue linked to its longstanding sovereignty claim.

The disagreement is unlikely to resolve the broader territorial dispute between Japan and Russia. The two countries have maintained fundamentally different interpretations of the islands’ status for decades, and the issue remains closely connected to their unresolved post-war relationship.

For now, Japan’s objection highlights the difficulty international organisations face when producing maps intended to represent territories claimed by more than one country. A decision made for cartographic consistency can carry diplomatic consequences when it touches on unresolved questions of sovereignty.