Relations between Japan and the Soviet Union have been much affected by the strategic position of Japan. It is relatively near the Atlantic coast of the old Soviet Union and current Russia. Japanese foreign policy has been conducted in terms of the geography of the country, with the four main islands of Japan standing off the coast of East Asia, near the peninsula of Korea, and surrounded by other islands, including the currently disputed Sakhalin and Kurile Islands to the north. Relations have shifted over the years, and Japan has drawn closer to the rest of the world as technology has improved:
The power of Russia, China, and the United States and the policies of these countries toward Japan have changed dramatically during the past fifty years. But improvements in communication and transportation have brought its four neighbors closer to japan, and they continue to be of critical importance to Japan's security. . . (Weinstein 5-6).
The major shift took place with World War II. Prior to the war, Japan had defensive bases that were then transformed into threatening positions. Japan had exercised sovereignty over Korea, all the Kurile islands, and southern Sakhalin, as well as the Bonins, the Ryukyus, and Taiwan. Manchuria was a military satellite, and the Caroline and Marshall Islands were under a Japanese mandate. The Soviet Union was preoccupied with industrial expansion and played little role in the region. The Japanese Islands were under virtually no danger of attack. Yet, Japan was not content with this position and dreamed of regional hegemony. With the end of the war, Japan was stripped of all its overseas holdings, bombed out, and on the verge of political and economic collapse. The country was occupied by British and American units under the American Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. In the last days of the war, the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria, southern Sakhalin, and the entire Kurile chain (Wein...