An essay examining Japan’s policy shift regarding talks with South Korea and North Korea over the “Sea of Japan” naming issue.
It analyzes the role of the IHO, diplomatic pressures, and the responsibility of media and policymakers in shaping historical narratives.

January 19, 2019.
What on earth does this mean.
Surely every Japanese citizen thought so for a moment.
When I saw this morning’s front-page article in the Sankei Shimbun, my blood boiled instantly.
The emphases in the text and the parts marked with asterisks are mine.
“Sea of Japan” Talks with South Korea and North Korea.
Government Accepts Request from International Organization.
What on earth does this mean.
Surely every Japanese citizen thought so for a moment.
Regarding the issue in which South Korea and North Korea insist on renaming or co-labeling the Sea of Japan as the “East Sea,” the Japanese government has decided to hold unofficial talks with the two countries in response to strong requests from the International Hydrographic Organization, which publishes the global guideline “Limits of Oceans and Seas.”
The disagreement is decisive.
If the claims of South Korea and North Korea are accepted at the next IHO General Assembly, the guideline may be revised for the first time in more than sixty years, and the name “East Sea” could become internationally standardized.
According to multiple diplomatic sources, the unofficial trilateral talks are expected this spring, with Japan likely represented by director-general level officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The guideline, whose third edition was published in 1953 and lists the area as “Japan Sea,” is expected to be examined by the three countries.
The IHO has requested that the results be reported at the 2020 General Assembly.
South Korea and North Korea first raised the naming issue at a United Nations conference in 1992, claiming it was “a result of Japanese colonialism.”
Initially they demanded renaming to “East Sea,” but in recent years they have called for co-labeling with “Sea of Japan.”
In the 2000s, the IHO considered revising the guideline, but progress stalled due to conflict between Japan and the two Koreas.
This latest decision was effectively made after South Korea actively lobbied various countries in favor of renaming or co-labeling.
What were Japan’s Foreign Ministry, media, and commentators doing when such a country began a fierce propaganda campaign to seize even the name of the Sea of Japan.
An Asahi Shimbun reporter has long referred to Takeshima, illegally occupied by Syngman Rhee in the confusion after Japan’s defeat, as Takeshima (Dokdo) in articles.
In every conceivable way, Asahi Shimbun and NHK have encouraged and emboldened what I describe as bottomless malice and plausible falsehoods.
Japan should not only have shut down this newspaper company five years ago but also confiscated all its assets to compensate for the enormous losses Japan suffered, and it is still not too late.
It should be immediately shut down and all its assets seized.
The moment such a decision is made, the Korean Peninsula would instantly cease its extortion and provocations toward Japan.
This is the urgent task Japan must now undertake.
Japan had been reluctant to engage in negotiations with North Korea, which has not responded to key issues such as denuclearization and the abduction problem, and was also unwilling to hold talks including South Korea amid strained relations over the forced labor issue.
However, as North Korea proceeded with a summit meeting with the United States, it became difficult to refuse talks on diplomatic grounds.
In addition, the IHO Secretariat warned that if Japan did not engage in discussions, it would consider abolishing the guideline, prompting a policy shift.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga stated at a press conference on the 18th that Japan would “contribute constructively as a responsible member of the IHO,” and emphasized that “Sea of Japan is the only internationally established name, and there is neither necessity nor basis for changing it.”
The attitude of the Korean Peninsula truly follows their characteristic belief that if a lie is repeated one hundred times, it becomes the truth.