The government is making a ¥2 billion bid for the Senkaku Islands as it forges ahead with a plan to bring them under state control around next month, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.
The government is engaged in serious behind-the-scenes talks with the Kurihara family, which owns four of the five isles at the center of Japan's diplomatic strife with China.
Although members of the Kurihara family had earlier said they would only entertain bids from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the family has recently taken a more flexible stance on accommodating the government's desire to buy them, the sources said.