Territorial disputes of Japan

They would remain under the Japanese until the end of World War II, when the Soviet Union annexed the islands as the result of a military operation which took place during and after the Surrender of Japan.

The dispute over the Kuril Islands was one of the main reasons that the Soviets did not sign the Treaty of San Francisco, and the state of war between the two nations persisted until the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, in which Japan agreed to renounce their claims to Iturup and Kunashir in return for the Soviets returning Shikotan and the Habomai Islands.

However, due to American intervention, the negotiations that led to the joint declaration were unable to resolve the dispute, and to date, no formal peace treaty has been signed between Japan and Russia, the Soviet Union's successor state.

However, this classification has been contested by China, Taiwan, and South Korea, who contend that Okinotorishima does not meet UNCLOS's criteria for an islet of being able to support human habitation, and thus that Japan cannot claim an EEZ around the strategically located atoll.

[7][8] To maintain their claims, Japan has spent over US$600 million to build observation posts and shore up the atoll against erosion and typhoon damage, and has also cultivated coral in the area in an attempt to slowly grow reefs into islands.

[11] Neither the PRC nor the ROC disputed the Japanese and American rule over the Senkaku Islands until the early 1970s, possibly due to the discovery of potential oil reserves in the area in 1968.

[12] After the end of World War II and the Treaty of San Francisco in 1951, Japan was forced to renounce its claim to Korea, though the Liancourt Rocks were not specifically mentioned in the final draft, and in 1952 South Korea began to develop the islets after claiming them as part of a 60-kilometer exclusive economic zone in the waters around the country.