ABSTRACT
In August 2006, the year marking the fiftieth anniversary of restoration of JapaneseSoviet diplomatic relations, a three-day conference entitled New Initiatives for Solving the “Northern Territories” Issue between Japan and Russia: An Inspiration from the Åland Experience was held in Mariehamn, the capital of Åland. It began only few days after a Russian coastguard fired on and seized a Japanese fishing boat in the waters near the Northern Territories, killing a Japanese crew member and souring Japanese-Russian relations. At the conference, which included a series of on-site briefings by the Åland government, there were lively exchanges among the participants, who gathered from Japan, Russia, Europe, Australia and North America. Almost all acknowledged the significance of Åland as a conflict resolution model, but opinions varied as to its potential applicability to the Northern Territories dispute, even those who thought it applicable differing over how to apply it. Thus, despite the original optimism, the conference did not produce specific policy proposals. Nevertheless, it generated significant new inspirations for considering possible solutions of the Northern Territories question. In this chapter, I would like to discuss one Åland-inspired solution model, paying attention to specific features of the Åland settlement, including resolution of the sovereignty issue, the multilateral framework, autonomy, domicile, language regulations and demilitarization.
