Chief Cabinet Secretary proposes amendment to the description of the Northern Territories as Russian territory

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara announced at a press conference on the 10th that he had submitted a request to the operator of the map posting site through the embassy in the United States to make corrections, citing the fact that the Northern Territories were shown in the same color as Russian territory on a map published by a proponent of the ``Equal Earth projection,'' which more faithfully represents the area of ​​the Earth's continents. ``There are statements that are contrary to the Japanese government's position,'' he said.

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The Japanese version of the map posted on the site Equal Earth.com lists the names of the islands in the Northern Territories in Russian katakana. It also states that ``Russia has effective control over the territory, and Japan claims territorial rights.''

The Japanese government's position is that the Northern Territories are ``inherent territory of Japan.'' Mr. Kihara stated, ``We need to prevent misconceptions about our country's territory and geographical names from spreading,'' and expressed his intention to continue making necessary efforts.