Japan and the Ocean

Introduction - collapsed system: rethinking world disorder

“…Renegotiation of the Nile Waters Agreement under new developments and increased attention to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, 1991 Outer Space Agreement, and the 1996 Arctic Council Declaration under new climatic conditions provide insights into the challenges of regime renovation. A broader example is the negotiation of the UN Law of the Sea following decades of awakening over the inadequacies of the previous (1608) three and a half centuries-old regime and two UN Conferences (1958Conferences ( , 1960 before the definitive effort that took 15 more years (1967-82) (Friedheim 1993;Sebenius 1984); it is now followed by most states, though still not ratified by a few, and now rising states contest its authority when it applies to them. All of these and other cases show that the particular regime in its latest form was the result of a period of growing dissatisfaction with the performance of the preceding regime that set the stage (or tilted the boat) for a galvanizing event or a tipping point, so that the collapse of current regimes may be analyzed as the gestation period for their replacement or renegotiation.…”

China’s South China Sea Claims, the Historic Rights Debate and the Middle Approach of Islamic International Law

“…It is important to note that by virtue of traditional rights, the rights' owners will have greater rights than those given to their neighbours (Kameri-Mbote, 2022; Burton et al, 1999). Interestingly, it has been argued that traditional rights should cover the rights of a country like Japan, to ocean resources (Ouchi, 1978;Friedheim & Akaha, 2019). Traditional, customary or historic rights have taken centre stage in states or communities' response to changes in the law (including international law) that could alter or upset their longestablished rights on access to sources of livelihood.…”

“…Traditional, customary or historic rights have taken centre stage in states or communities' response to changes in the law (including international law) that could alter or upset their longestablished rights on access to sources of livelihood. For example, the rights of Japan to exploit ocean resources were once argued within the context of traditional rights because a new ocean regime was emerging and there was concern that the regime could proscribe certain aspects of Japan's fishing activities which had been in place for years (Friedheim & Akaha, 2019;Ouchi, 1978). Similarly, grazing and cultivation rights of people living in frontier areas in Africa were jeopardised by formulation of boundary treaties (Akweenda, 1990).…”

Property Rights to the World’s (Linear) Ocean Fisheries in Customary International Law

“…an approach that greatly favored US tuna clippers (Scheiber 2004: 44). Having no better option, coastal states thus sought to secure the allocation they wanted through their 200-mile sovereignty claims (Friedheim 1993).…”