BY AGATSU KIMURA
The late Masugata Kiichro, who used to live and possess lands in the Northern Territories (NT) , requested a transfer of the owner's address in the registry book. The Government, however, refused. On March 25th, 1997, the Kushiro district court delivered a decision which found the refusal illegal. But on January 26th, 1999, the Sapporo High Court repealed the decision and handed down a judgment which admitted the government's claim.
The judge gave the following three reasons: (1) We can not regard the registry book as exact because no one has surveyed the land; (2) The Law concerning the Registration of Immovable properties is not intended to include the NT. Registering land in the NT might prevent safe and smooth transfer, which is the purpose of the law; (3) The immovable properties in the NT are not within the Japanese state and Japanese law cannot be applied. Thereby these are not immovable properties which can be registered.
It seems that even in the administration of justice the Government neglects protecting the rights of the former islanders, and we can understand their anger. Though the Government has insisted the NT are Japanese territory, it has never shown any clear policy to protect the former islanders' property rights. If these rights are not upheld, when the islands come back in the future how will it handle these matters? It should improve the law. But this judgment conceals the Government's fault.
The Government's attitude toward the NT is full of inconsistencies. (1) It allows people to register the lands when they inherit them, but does not allow them to transfer the owner's address into the registration book. (2)Though the district legal affairs bureau permits the transfer of the permanent domicile to the NT, regarding them as Japanese, the Ministry of Finance imposes tariffs on the imports from the NT. (3)While the Government appealed the Kushiro district court's decision and discourages people from campaigning for the NT reversion, it declared support for campaigns requesting the NT reversion at a mass meeting in which Prime Minister Obuchi, Foreign Minister Komura and others took part in on February 7th at the NT Day in Tokyo.
The Government has to show Russia that Japan's laws apply to the NT in order to claim the NT belong to Japan. This is politics. The world laughs at Japan because the Government ignores the former islander's rights while it insists the NT should be Japanese. Does the Government respect the wishes of the 600 citizens who participated in the neighborhood meeting for the NT reversion in Nemuro? We should think of this as an issue of our own.