Tokyo gov't in talks with owners to buy Senkaku Islands: Ishihara english.kyodonews.jp English articles: www.bloomberg.com --- Japanprobe page on who actually owns the islands: www.japanprobe.com ------- Photograph of the map: upload.wikimedia.org commons.wikimedia.org The 3 islands that make up the Senkaku Islands are 魚釣島 uotsurijima (ja.wikipedia.org 北小島 kitakojima 南小島 minamikojima ----------- Japanese article on Senkaku Island: dailynews.yahoo.co.jp ----------- Vocab: 尖閣諸島 senkakushotō = Senkaku Island 都知事 tochiji = metropolitan governor; governor of Tokyo ------------ Video clip & Video screen shot from:「尖閣諸島を買います」石原都知事が米での講演で（12/04/17） www.youtube.com --------- More J-video & article: news.tbs.co.jp 「寝耳に水」 対応に追われる都職員sankei.jp.msn.com Sen commons.wikimedia.org
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said on Monday (April 16) that the Japanese capital is looking to buy a handful of disputed islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Japan and China. The Japanese said several of the islands are owned privately by Japanese citizens and currently leased to the government. The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, is part of a wider pattern of maritime territorial disputes between China with neighbors both citing historical and other claims over fishing areas and potential rich hydrocarbon deposits. Ishihara called China's claims "unbelievable", and that the Tokyo government will buy the islands. Japan says the median line between the two countries' coasts should mark the boundary of their exclusive economic zones. Japan includes the islands claimed by both countries as its own territory when measuring from its coasts. At stake are natural gas fields in a 970-km (620-mile) trough -- called Xihu by China and Okinawa by Japan -- in the East China Sea.
![[Loquendo] Shintaro Ishihara](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/whlFpshVQqo/3.jpg)
