N. 14 - Maggio 2007

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Olivia Tani

The Russo-Japanese War and Japanese concept of territorial identity in the Sakhalin Island




Introduction
The Japanese Concept of Territorial Identity
Brief history on discover of Sakhalin
The Japanese invasion of Sakhalin during the Russo-Japanese war
The Sakhalin 's issue during the Portsmouth Peace Treaty
Conclusion
 







 

Introduction

Sakhalin Island is located at north of Japan , between the sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan . Sakhalin is a big island, the length is more than six hundred miles and the total area is approximately 29,700 square miles. In the south it is separated from Japan by twenty-five miles. The distance between Sakhalin and the Russian Marittime regions, near the Amur River is in one point only eight miles.
At the beginning of 1905 there were about 33,000 inhabitants, on the island, of whom about 29,000 were Russians, many of them political convicts, the remainder being mostly Ainu (Cassell 1905).
The territorial treaties that Japan and Russia signed at the end of the nineteenth century, brought a certain normalisation into their diplomatic relations, and signed the end of Russian expedition into the Far East regions, which started at the end of seventeenth century.
During these travels, Russia had for the first time some contacts with Japan . The deepest cultural differences and a different system of interrelations affected immediately the possibility of good relations between the two. One of the results of these cultural misunderstandings was the issue over the Sakhalin and Kuril Island 's legal sovereignty.
Japan considered the islands own sovereignty since the period of the mythic kingdom of the first Emperor Jimmu Tenno. Indeed, in the ‘ Nihongi ' (Chronicles of Japan) there were indications that the islands were part of the Japanese territory (Lasserre 2000).
The geographical position of Japan , and their conservative attitude ( Japan never changed her imperial dynasty) developed a concept where borders were not political creation but linked with culture and myths. Japan did not need to delimit her borders because she never felt culturally or military threatened.
The sovereignty over the islands were temporarily resolved in 1875 with the San Petersburg treaty, in which Russia established her domain over the whole Sakhalin Island while Japan received the sovereignty over the Kuril Islands archipelago.
In 1898 Russia confirmed her position in the Far East area with the lease for twenty-five years of Port Arthur ( Lushun ) part of the Chinese Empire. In 1903 Russia took new initiatives in the north of Korea , and finally she undertook the colossal investment in the Trans-Siberian and the Chinese Eastern Railways. From 1900 to 1904 she occupied with her troops cities and routes of Manchuria . Contemporarily, Japan moved her commercial, political and expansionistic interests in the same area, so that the Russian enterprises became an obstacle for the new Japanese interests.
At first Japan tried to protest against Russia , and looking for peacefully negotiations. So, in April 1902 they signed an agreement in which Russia would have withdrawn her troops from Korea and offered some concession to Japan .
In 1903 Japan and Russia made a new deal; Japan could send some troops to Korea in order to counterbalance the Russian military presence. The new agreement envisaged also economic relationships with Russia . However, Russia did not respect the signed agreement, because she underestimated the political and military power of Japan .
In 1904, Japan considered the Russian troops in Manchuria threatening their new expansionistic politics, in particular because naval and economic interests linked to the railways ( Nish 1985).
Russia knew that could not effort a war against Japan , though she had reinforced her military presence in the region; she had not finished the Transiberian, which was important for supplying her troops.
Nevertheless, Russia was confident that Japan would not have started the war. But she was clearly wrong. The official justification of Japan 's attack was that Russia had threatened Japanese interests and security in the region. The Japanese army, the cabinet and some of her people openly supported the ...

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