Tokyo Officials Shun ‘Takeshima Day’

Shimane Prefecture in Japan has been heavily promoting “Takeshima Day” (February 22), but all the Japanese legislators who hail from this region, and central government officials have chosen not to attend this year.

Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun said on February 19 that Japanese government officials would not attend in order to avoid provoking Korea, reflecting a difference in the positions of the central and local governments over Takeshima Day.

Shimane Prefecture has been holding a large-scale publicity campaign as the first anniversary of the Japanese province`s designation of February 22 as Takeshima Day approaches. As part of the campaign, the prefecture sent leaflets insisting that Dokdo is Japanese territory to 260,000 households.

Shimane Prefecture planned to hold a “Takeshima Day Meeting” and a “Forum on Takeshima” on February 22, and sent invitation letters to the Northeast Asia Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Department at the Fisheries Agency, as well as five legislators who hail from the region. All of them replied that they would not participate.

A Northeast Asia Department spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “In making the decision not to participate, everything was taken into account, including the status quo of the relationship between Korea and Japan,” adding, “Not all local government events need the presence of officials from the central government.”

Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fisheries Agency and five prefectural legislators participated in a rally calling for the return of Takeshima to Japan in November, 2003.

Meanwhile, as side effects resulting from the passage of the ordinance designating February 22 as Takeshima Day have been coming to the surface recently, some have been voicing complaints.

On February 14, Kyodo News reported that since the passage of the ordinance, 32 Japanese local governments saw their ties with their Korean sister cities severed. Seventeen have resumed ties or are expecting the resumption of ties soon, but 15 are still receiving the cold shoulder from their Korean counterparts.

In a Mainichi Shimbun article, Asushi Inoue, a professor at Shimane University, complained, “Due to the severance in ties with Kyungpook National University, Shimane University is falling behind other universities that still maintain their relationships with Korean universities.”

Tottori Prefecture, which borders Shimane Prefecture, is suffering a decline in Korean tourists.

The governor of Tottori Prefecture proposed a plan to Shimane Prefecture’s governor to jointly make efforts to vitalize the Seoul-Yonago route, the only international flight route in the region, in their second meeting last month.

Kwang-Am Cheon iam@donga.com