For several years, there has been no end to the violation of territorial waters due to the repeated operations of Chinese warships and fishing boats in Japanese waters. It is clear that China is taking a strategic position with the aim of becoming a major marine power, however, Japan must strongly demand China to play by the (international) rules.

In the surrounding seas of Hoppouyontou(Habomai,Shikotan,Kunashiri,Etorofu), biological productivity is very high, an ecological community of protozoan-like organisms is being restored and conserved and a rich marine ecosystem, without parallel in the world, is being preserved. In the interests of maintaining this biodiversity, it is necessary for Japan and Russia to form a plan of conservation policies.

If the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea recognized, in geographical and geological terms, the continuity of the continental shelf with the land even when it extends beyond the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), then the rights to the deep sea-bed and its resources of coastal States would be acknowledged. In this paper, I will summarize the provisions of treaties on the continental shelf, the conditions of the continental shelf and its surveys and the prospects on deep sea-bed resources in this country.