Diet lawmaker Hodaka Maruyama was kicked out of opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai last month over remarks he made during an exchange excursion to one of the Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido that Japan claims as its own. Other opposition parties have demanded he resign and the ruling coalition has submitted a rebuke of his behavior to the Diet. He has apologized but refuses to step down, claiming the right of free speech.
Maruyama was reportedly drunk when he got into an argument with a member of a visa-free exchange group consisting of former Japanese residents or descendants of the four disputed islands. The argument was about Japan's and Russia's respective claim to what the former calls the Northern Territories and the latter the Southern Kurils. Prior to World War II, the islands had belonged to Japan. At the end of the war, however, the Soviet Union invaded and has controlled them ever since. Japan is still negotiating for their return, although circumstances indicate there is no way Russia will give any of them back, despite a joint 1956 declaration implying the two smaller territories might be returned after a peace treaty is signed.
It is taboo in Japan for anyone, including media organizations, to accept the idea publicly that the islands will never revert to Japanese sovereignty. Maruyama violated this taboo when he asked Koyata Otsuka, the elderly leader of the Japanese group, if he saw any alternative other than war with Russia for reclaiming the islands. Any suggestion of Japan waging war is forbidden in light of the country's pacifist Constitution and was particularly unwise given the ongoing negotiations with Russia over the territories. Essentially Maruyama was demanding Otsuka be realistic about the chances of Kunashiri being returned by Moscow: What sort of leverage does Japan have?