Photo/IllutrationBrightly colored buildings in the district known as Shana among Japanese on the island of Etorofu, which is part of the disputed Northern Territories, in September 2018 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to embark on joint economic activities on the disputed Northern Territories at their summit in December 2016 in Abe’s ancestral home prefecture of Yamaguchi.

Abe touted this agreement as the high point of the summit.

That was nearly three years ago, but not one promising plan has been presented to date.

Since the agreement’s obvious purpose was to improve Japan-Russia relations, more serious efforts are needed to jump-start the project.

A group of Japanese tourists recently visited the islands of Kunashiri and Etorofu as a “rehearsal” to see how tourism would work as one of the most promising joint economic activities envisioned.

The result, however, only underscored the difficulty of putting the plan to practice.

The biggest problem is the absence of any legal framework that applies to Japanese tourists entering any of the four islands, which are all claimed by both Russia and Japan.

For this particular tour, the existing “visa-free” rule was applied as an exception. But this required Japanese government officials to accompany the group, and the same arrangement cannot apply to commercial-based tourism.

Another major issue is whose law--Japanese or Russian--should apply in the event of a Japanese tourist getting involved in a crime.

Aside from tourism, Abe and Putin agreed to prioritize joint activities in the fields of seafood farming, cultivation of hothouse vegetables, wind power generation and garbage reduction.

But the only things done so far have been mutual inspection tours by Japanese and Russian garbage disposal experts.

Abe asserts the significance of Russians feeling “enriched” through collaboration with Japanese. His argument is that sharing such successful experiences should contribute to resolving the territorial dispute, but that is nothing but wishful thinking at this stage.

However, this is not to say that all significance of joint economic activities has been lost.

Last year, Abe tentatively shelved the traditional policy of demanding all the four islands back, and switched to negotiating for the return of only two--Habomai and Shikotan.

But the talks have since collapsed, and the only realistic policy that Abe can pursue now is to keep expanding mutual exchanges in line with an agreement reached in 2016.

At present, Japanese citizens who can participate in visa-free exchange programs are limited to former islanders and their families, members of the media, and academic experts.

Building a system that will enable more Japanese citizens to visit the islands should help foster mutual trust and understanding.

One cause for concern, however, is Russia’s recent regressive behavior. In September, Putin complained that although Russia allows visa-free visits to the islands by Japanese citizens, Japan continues to sanction Russia over the Crimea issue.

Putin is probably suspicious of Japan’s intention to tie joint economic activities to territorial negotiations. However, Putin himself acknowledged the benefits of the activities to the development of bilateral relations.

Both Tokyo and Moscow are responsible for striving to realize those joint economic activities in ways that will not harm mutual interests.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 6