ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses that the response to the legitimisation risks, both external and internal, before moving on to the consolidation risks. It shows how the dispute was framed in Manichean moral terms which resulted in an absolutist approach based upon the return of a few islands. This approach was predicated on two distinct sets of risks: the risk of legitimization and consolidation of Russian control. For a period, especially in the early 1990s, it seemed that Japan's approach would prove successful, making it imperative to the Japanese government to minimize these risks to its claims. One of the key reasons for this lack of this change lies in configuration of state, society and market actors. Perhaps the greatest change in the configuration of state, society and market actors has taken place at the societal level. During the Cold War, the USSR was public enemy number one. Space is opening up, but for the moment Japan's Northern Territories policy remains static.
