Why Takeda Says Tokyo's Northern Territories Response Was a Missed Opportunity

Writer Takeda Tsuneyasu, a descendant of Japan's former imperial family and great-great-grandson of Emperor Meiji, used his YouTube channel on 20 September to criticize Tokyo's response after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Etorofu Island in the disputed Northern Territories in August.

In the video, Takeda said a month had passed without any Japanese countermeasure. He pointed to a Sankei News report from 11 September stating that Foreign Minister Motegi had made clear that recalling Japan's ambassador to Russia was not being considered.

Takeda argued that Russia benefits when the visit receives little attention. Under his stated logic of territorial disputes, a country should stir public and diplomatic attention when it does not control disputed territory, and keep things quiet when it does control it. He said Japan is doing the opposite: staying quiet on the Northern Territories and Takeshima, which it does not control, while actively raising the profile of the Senkaku Islands, which Japan administers.

He concluded that silence on the Northern Territories plays into Russian interests and warned that, over years, the dispute could quietly drift toward permanent Russian control.

The Territorial-Dispute Logic Behind Takeda's Criticism

The asymmetry Takeda is pointing to

Takeda's critique rests on a simple asymmetry. The Northern Territories, known in Russia as the Southern Kurils, have been under Moscow's administration since the end of the Second World War, while Japan claims them. Under his framework, that is precisely the kind of dispute where Tokyo should keep the issue visible, because prolonged silence allows the status quo to harden. In contrast, Japan administers the Senkaku Islands but China and Taiwan contest that control; there, he argues, low-profile management avoids giving rivals an opening.

Why the Foreign Ministry detail is central

The video's sharpest point is the reported statement by Foreign Minister Motegi that recalling Japan's ambassador to Russia was not being considered. Whether one agrees with an ambassador recall or not, the absence of any announced countermeasure is what Takeda treats as evidence that Tokyo is treating a Russian visit to disputed territory as routine. That, he suggests, is exactly what Moscow wants: a visit that produces no diplomatic cost and eventually becomes part of the accepted background.

Where the argument is limited

Takeda's view is an opinion from outside government, not a policy proposal with assessed trade-offs. A stronger Japanese response could keep the territorial claim prominent, but it could also close channels with Moscow on other security or economic issues. The video does not weigh those costs, and it offers no evidence about the Japanese government's private diplomatic calculations. Its main value is as a public articulation of a long-standing nationalist criticism: that Japan is louder where it has control and quieter where it does not.