Half-abandoned Japanese island at heart of tensions with China

Hideya Yagi, 80, stands out on Kasasa with a union jack woolly hat as he greets visitors to the island where he and six others are the only registered residents. Known locally as the “Hawaii” of Japan’s inland sea for its warm climate and coastline, Kasasa offers the simple life Yagi chose 25 years ago: “You can stand on the quayside and just reel the fish in,” he says.

The island sits in a sensitive spot for national security, about 20km from Iwakuni US Marine Corps airbase and 50km from a Maritime Self-Defence Force base in Kure. When wealthy Chinese developers bought two plots and began developing them, rumours that the land could be used for surveillance spread, prompting one councillor to warn it “could eventually become a Chinese island.” The modest islet has become emblematic of worsening ties with Beijing; in the 12 months to the end of March last year, Chinese investors were behind nearly half of hundreds of land and real estate acquisitions near locations deemed important for national security.

Japan, Kasasa

kasasa, japan, beijing, iwakuni, kure, us marines, chinese developers, national security, land purchases, surveillance