ABSTRACT
Few bilateral relationships in the world have a greater unrealized potential than the Japanese-Soviet relationship. The prospects for change in Japanese-Soviet relations are linked to a multitude of factors, involving not only bilateral issues, but the domestic conditions within each nation, relations with third powers, most notably the United States and China, and the general international climate. The territorial problem offers instructive insights into how history, or a particular image of history, is used to justify policy. The promise of large-scale Japanese participation in the development of Siberia's natural resources and a record of steadily growing Japanese-Soviet trade, which has included a series of successful Japanese-Soviet joint economic projects, are important factors affecting the complexion of Japanese-Soviet relations. Russo-Japanese economic relations have been shaped by geography as much as by politics. The cultural prisms through which Japan and the Soviet Union view each other may help explain the persistence of their political estrangement.
