The maritime delimitation disputes between Japan and China and Japan and Korea have become serious political problems with little prospects of resolution in sight. As the problem with China concerns a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands and with Korea over Takeshima Island, if these are not resolved the base lines necessary for sea boundary delimitation cannot be determined, therefore leaving the countries involved without agreement on their borders. In order to resolve these maritime border disputes peacefully, based on international law rather than through force, direct negotiations as well as consideration of international arbitration by third-party dispute resolution mechanisme should be considered.
Selected Papers No.25

From an historical perspective, whale hunting can be divided roughly into the two categories of artisanal whaling and commercial whaling. As whaling now faces an anti-whaling movement related to environmental and animal protection as well as the environmental problem of global warming which threatens whales’ very survival, neither of the whaling categories enjoys bright prospects for the future. However, in the interests both of preserving cultural diversity and in providing against an unpredictable future for mankind, the continuity of whaling is necessary and requires future trends to be watched carefully.

The ocean is an important subsystem for maintaining life on the planet. Indispensable to understanding its mechanisms are trace elements and their stable isotopes. The International Study of the Marine Biogeochemical Cycles of Trace Elements and Their Isotopes (GEOTRACES) is an ongoing project to better understand the features of our oceans through cross-section observations of trace elements and their stable isotopes.