Since Russia and Ukraine fell into a tit-for-tat situation, many Western countries have successively resorted to various sanctions against Russia. Among them, as one of the loyal allies of the United States, Japan has not been absent from sanctions against Russia, and even Japan has gradually evolved into the vanguard of sanctions against Russia. In addition to cracking down on Russia's financial sector, Japan has even issued a personal sanctions order directly against the Russian president.
Perhaps for Japan, this country with which they have territorial disputes is now being targeted by the United States and the West, and at the same time, Russia is still mired in the quagmire of war in Ukraine, and its national strength is weakening, at this moment Japan no longer has to take into account Russia's strength and influence, so when it sees the Western countries unanimously encircling and attacking Russia, Japan hopes to take a risk even if it "gambles on national fortunes".
The reason for this is not without basis, for example, the Japanese prime minister has changed the title when referring to the "four northern islands". According to media reports, when the Japanese prime minister recently mentioned the "four northern islands," he no longer showed the caution and sensitivity of former prime minister Shinzo Abe on this issue, directly calling the "four northern islands" Japan's "inherent territory" and claiming that Japan has "legitimate sovereignty" over the region. Although in the past, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always called the "four northern islands" in many propaganda documents, in order to avoid really angering Russia, the Japanese government has basically been obscure in publicizing this matter, and it is limited to coaxing the people of the country to be happy.
However, Kishida Fumio's ambitions are getting bigger and bigger, and he has directly claimed in public that "the four northern islands are Japan's inherent territory", which also fully shows that Japan no longer cares about Russia's attitude.
As for why Japan had such a clear change of attitude, first of all, because this area, which Japan called the "Four Northern Islands" and russia called the South Kuril Islands, was indeed Japan's territory before World War II, but because Japan launched World War II at that time and eventually lost the war, the Soviet Union at that time adopted a legal agreement to incorporate this area into the territory of the Soviet Union.
But perhaps for Japan, an already resource-scarce country, this disputed region is rich in minerals and is close to Japan, so it has never really let go.
Moreover, Russia-US relations have reached a moment of total collapse, biden has also directly and publicly released harsh words to Russia, and Japan believes that it has found an opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity. While the United States is doing everything it can to try to strike Russia, Japan is also indispensable. What's more, Japan knows that Russia is now mired in the quagmire of war, which is already an opportunity for Japan to "gamble on national fortunes", and in Japan's view, it may be possible to shoot at this time and be able to "win with one move", so Kishida Fumio put away his honest face and revealed his true ambitions.
Partial references: China Youth Network, Xinhua News Agency, National Defense Times