While the territorial disputes between Japan and China, and that with South Korea, seem to have quietened down recently, some people remain frustrated by the issue.
Since August, when South Korean President Lee Myung Bak visited the Takeshima islands (known as Dokdo in South Korea), the islets have become the center of a row testing bilateral ties. In September, the relationship between Japan and China also deteriorated, as Japan nationalized three of the five Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu.
On Oct. 28, at a symposium titled "Temptation to Nationalism" in Tokyo's Koenji district, Takayoshi Kise, an editor for Daisan Shokan publishing and emcee of the event, said: "I think the territorial disputes on the Senkakus and Takeshima has in turn triggered a recent rise in nationalism, on all sides — which (renowned author) Haruki Murakami compared (in an article in the Asahi Shimbun) to being drunk on "cheap liquor" — and xenophobia in Japan, China and South Korea."