Japan demanded changes to the new world map voted for by the UN
Japan has demanded changes to the new world map in the Equal Earth projection, the use of which was voted for by the UN General Assembly. Tokyo was dissatisfied with the fact that the disputed Kuril Islands are marked on the map with the same color as Russia, writes The Guardian.
On September 4, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the use of the equal-area Equal Earth projection instead of the traditional world map in the Mercator projection. It does not accurately preserve angles or shapes, but it much better conveys the ratio of areas of countries and continents.
Proponents of the resolution believe that the Mercator map has visually diminished the significance of Africa and other regions of the Global South for decades and influenced their perception in education, culture, and politics. At the same time, Russia and Greenland appear much larger than their actual size on such a map due to their location at high latitudes.
The resolution was supported by 164 countries, with six abstaining. Only the USA voted against it. Japan initially also supported the resolution, but on September 10, Japanese government representative Minoru Kihara stated that the new map "contains an image that contradicts the position of the Japanese government."
According to him, Japan expressed a protest through diplomatic channels to the operator of the website where the map is located and demanded that it be corrected.
The southern part of the Kuril Islands came under the control of the USSR as a result of World War II in 1945. Japan considers the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai island group to be its own, referring to them as the Northern Territories.
Due to this territorial dispute, Moscow and Tokyo have still not signed a peace treaty following World War II. In August 2026, Vladimir Putin for the first time visited the disputed islands, after which Japan summoned the Russian ambassador and expressed a "strong protest."
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В 1951 г. в Сан‑Францисском мирном договоре Япония отказалась от прав на Курильские острова