ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transformation of the gentlemen's agreement over the past four decades. It discusses the institutionalization of the gentlemen's agreement in the form of the Bilateral Fisheries Pact of 1997 and the impact of non-government actors on the stability of the agreement. The chapter presents a historical account of the transformation of the gentlemen's agreement to shelve the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands from its inception to Japan's nationalization of the three Senkaku Islands in 2012. The Chinese action could be seen as a challenge to Japan's control over the Senkaku Islands and a violation of the gentlemen's agreement to shelve the territorial dispute over the islands. Japan's relations with China further deteriorated during the succeeding Noda administration because of its purchase of three of the five Senkaku Islands, Uotsuri Island, Kitakojima Island, and Minamikojima Island, from their private owner on September 11, 2012.
