LONDON -- As Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has traveled about and made his speeches in recent months, it is possible to trace his perception of a new foreign policy for Japan.
The new focus in Japan's foreign policy seems to have started last Sept. 2 when Koizumi took a boat ride around the Northern Territories, the four islands (also known as the southern Kurils) that the Russians occupied at the end of World War II. Disputing claims of sovereignty over them have prevented the two countries from signing a peace agreement 60 years after the end of the war.
When Koizumi went around the islands, he declared them to be Japanese territory. He held off from actually going ashore, but his declaration was sufficient to seriously damage Japan's relations with Russia.