TOKYO >> Ryuji Iwasaki, a seasoned Japanese diplomat, has spent lots of time in Hawaii. He grabbed a Tori Richard aloha shirt from home before leaving for work at the Japanese Foreign Ministry in preparation for an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Iwasaki was previously stationed in Honolulu at the Japanese Consulate in Nuuanu and was present at Pearl Harbor in 2016 when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a speech alongside then-U.S. President Barack Obama commemorating the 75th anniversary of the 1941 attack that plunged the U.S. and Japan into war, pitting their troops in bloody battles across the islands of the Pacific.

“Hawaii is really one of the most important places,” Iwasaki said of his time representing his government in the Aloha State.

He said it was important in preparing him for his current job as senior deputy director of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Oceania Division, tackling Japan’s present-­day foreign relations across Pacific island nations.

The Japanese government has been making a diplomatic push in the region, addressing concerns it shares with islanders such as rising sea levels and disaster preparedness. Japanese diplomats and business leaders are also watching closely as the U.S. and China compete for influence across Oceania, where they have interests of their own.

Iwasaki notes that 40% of tuna consumed in Japan is caught in Oceania and many of the islands in the region are along critical trade routes connecting Japan to Australia.

Takehiro Kurosaki, an associate professor at Japan’s Tokai University focused on Oceania, said Australia has long been a key source of wheat, beef, iron ore and other high-demand goods in Japan. But more recently, other nations in the Pacific have become increasingly prominent trade partners.

Papua New Guinea began producing and exporting liquefied natural gas — LNG — in 2014 and half of its exports go to Japan, currently making up 5% of the Asian nation’s supply. Kurosaki said that percentage is growing and expected to increase since as a result of trade disruptions brought on by the Russia-Ukraine war and ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Papua New Guinea also exports oil and copper.

“The stability of this particular country is very important for the Japanese economy,” Kurosaki said.

The Japanese government has long recognized its interests across the islands. In 1997 it hosted the first Pacific Island Leaders Meeting, or PALM, bringing leaders of nations across the region to Tokyo. Since then, the meeting has taken place every three years in another country.

It was forced into a remote meeting after the spread of COVID-19, but this year PALM 10 was held in a meeting that brought leaders back to Tokyo in July. They discussed the challenges all have faced recovering from the economic shocks of the pandemic as well climate change and environmental threats.

Japan’s now-outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after the July meeting that Japan and the island leaders “shared values and principles such as the rule of law, democracy and opposition to attempts to change the status quo by force.”

His wording carefully avoided naming China by name.

China has been investing heavily in the Pacific but has been accused of using its fishing fleet and diplomatic threats to harass and intimidate the island nation of Palau ever since it refused to cut off diplomatic relations with nearby Taiwan. Chinese vessels have been accused of rampant illegal fishing and other suspicious activity across the region.

Deep ties

Japan’s Office of Development Assistance has been deeply involved across the Pacific islands, particularly through the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Through programs similar to the U.S. Peace Corps, Tokyo has sent everything from math teachers to car mechanics from across Japan to Pacific island communities.

Iwasaki said Japan’s interests in the islands, especially in Micronesia, go back more than a century with Japanese fishermen and sailors regularly navigating through the area.

After World War I, islands under the control of the German Empire were seized and fell under the control of Imperial Japan. They later became bloody battlefields during World War II but have retained Japanese influences since Japanese forces left. Many islanders, including Palau’s current Minister of State Gustav Aitaro, have Japanese ancestry in their family trees.

But for many Japanese today, this history is largely unknown.

“Even in Japan, there there are only a few scholars in academia that understand this area,” Kurosaki said.

When he first began studying international relations as a young student, he developed a fascination with the Pacific islands. But he said many of his classmates, and even his professors, asked him why. They asked him if international relations even existed in the region.

Kurosaki would go onto serve in the Foreign Ministry and worked as a researcher and adviser to the Japanese Embassy in the Marshall Islands before returning to academia in 2018. He travels across the region regularly, returning the Marshall Islands as recently as last month doing research.

“The people of the Pacific have long held the belief that they were connected rather than separated by the sea,” Kurosaki said. “In this sense, Japan is geographically and psychologically closer to the island nations than Japan might realize.”

He said his own connection is personal. His grandfather served as a soldier during the war, fighting in Papua New Guinea. He recalled his grandfather telling him how he came down with malaria and was cared for by Indigenous people who helped him survive, allowing him to return home.

Iwasaki said that several Japanese politicians had family members who fought and in some cases died in the region during the war. He added that though many Japanese are unfamiliar with the countries that make up the nations of Oceania and its people, they often do know the names of specific islands — places like Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

Many Pacific islanders live with the consequences of those battles every day. Japanese and Allied troops left behind countless unexploded munitions that still litter the islands. The wreckage of planes, tanks and ships destroyed during the war are spread across the region — some of them still leaking fuel.

Iwasaki said other fuel storage sites and war remnants continue to pollute the islands and their surrounding waters.

“They didn’t do that, we did,” Iwasaki said. “It’s our job to fix it.”

But for many of the Japanese soldiers and sailors who fought in the region and returned home defeated, their war experiences weren’t something to talk about. As the last of them die, their memories of the islands — and the islanders — die with them. Kurosaki said “the younger generation, frankly speaking, they don’t understand what happened there.”

But he believes younger Japanese are beginning to pay attention to the region for new reasons, particularly as both face threats from rising seas and natural disasters. Kurosaki said young Japanese are deeply concerned about the climate and other environmental challenges, and its made many more aware of the region.

In 2019 the Pacific Climate Change Center in Apia, Samoa, officially opened its doors. It’s a joint partnership between the Japanese and Samoan governments aimed at bringing together expertise and training people from across the Pacific on ways to tackle the effects of climate change in the islands. Japan and other island nations have seen the challenges firsthand.

Kurosaki added that cultural ties also have been on the rise, with students from Pacific island countries coming to study in Japan and athletes such as rugby players coming from the islands to play on Japanese teams and becoming much more visible to the Japanese public.

Iwasaki said the government has been keen to promote exchanges, especially among youth, to build awareness of Oceania and Japan’s interests. But Kurosaki said he believes that geopolitical challenges in the region are already beginning to grab more and more attention in Japan.

A changing world

Beijing has been bringing Pacific island countries into its Belt and Road Initiative, a series of Chinese government-­funded infrastructure projects aimed at promoting trade with China. In order to access the funds and projects, countries must agree to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Pacific island nations looking to bolster their economies and confront climate challenges are faced with a constant balancing act, trying to get funds and support from countries that see them as places of competition.

“China’s engagement this area is not a new thing, because they started since the 1970s,” said Kurosaki, noting that Beijing has long competed with Taiwan for influence. He said there has been a major Chinese push via bigger investment and deeper engagement since 2013 when current leader Xi Xinping took power.

The Chinese fishing fleet has begun crowding out vessels from other countries. Meanwhile the Chinese government has also signed agreements with the Solomon Islands and Kiribati that would allow Chinese police forces to operate in their countries.

Some analysts warn this could be setting the stage for military or other activities that could disrupt traditional trade routes.

“This awareness is shared among business people and politicians alike,” Kurosaki said. “In this sense, the Pacific islands are seen as a crucial region that encapsulates the challenges of the international community, and I believe the interest of the Japanese public will continue to grow.”

However, Kurosaki said he worries that as the U.S. and China compete for influence that Japan’s own influence — despite pushes from Tokyo — may be beginning to slip, explaining that “compared with these countries, Japan’s engagement with the Pacific islands, unfortunately, does not seem to be increasing.”

He said that it seems economic problems at home, including the depreciation of the yen, have led to shortfalls both in government aid projects as well as private business, especially tourism.

“I am concerned that if this trend continues, Japan’s presence in the Pacific island countries will further weaken,” Kurosaki said.

But, he added, Japan should be moving forward carefully. Though Japan is largely aligned with countries like the U.S. and Australia when it comes to competing with China in Oceania, he said Tokyo should be cautious about putting competition at the center of its strategy in the region.

“I think Japan has been able to build good relations with the island nations by demonstrating an equal partnership, conducting projects and exchange programs at the grassroots level, and standing on the same footing as the local people,” Kurosaki said. “Japan should play a bridging role between the major surrounding countries and the island nations, making efforts toward regional development while considering the positions of each party.”

He said one potential untapped partner is Hawaii.

Leaders from across Oceania have attended educational institutions in Hawaii, and today thousands of people from the region have immigrated to Hawaii for work, with many sending some of their earnings to family and communities back home.

Kurosaki noted that 10 years ago the Marshall Islands had a population of 50,000 people that is now down to 40,000 — a 20% decrease. Most of them moved to Hawaii and the U.S. mainland.

“When I have a talk to the Japanese government, I tell them one of their target areas should be Hawaii,” he said.

While the Japanese officials he talks to see it as an interesting prospect, Kurosaki said they tell him it would be difficult. The biggest challenge is that the Japanese government sees a hard distinction between Hawaii — seen as wrapped into its relationship with the United States — and the small island nations in Oceania viewed as impoverished, developing countries.

However, Kurosaki said that solving the region’s challenges requires the combined resources — and knowledge — of the entire Pacific family.

“Of course the Japanese government is supporting Pacific countries,” he said. “But if we think about the Pacific people, Pacific islanders, we need to have more active cooperation with Hawaii.”

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Kevin Knodell reported on this story as part of a fellowship with the Foreign Press Center Japan.