The Islands

Dokdo is a set of islands off the east coast of Korea. Why is this tiny island so important, important enough to post a billboard, written in English and not Korean? Well, Japan and Korea are fighting over this island. Whatever country ends up owning the island will have economic power a certain radius from the shore of that island, effectively widening the territory controlled by that country. Who cares about the sea between Japan and Korea? People who know about a large natural gas pocket beneath the sea. The island is 87km off Koreas coast but 157km off Japans coast. Koreans also view this move by the Japanese government as another step in the long list of imperialist things Japan has done over the past 1000 years. Japan has short mans syndrome in Asia. They are continually trying to expand their territory. Wikipedia registers 6 territorial disputes from Japan. Japan has even gone as far as to rename the "Eastern Sea" the Japanese Sea. Maybe we should rename the Pacific Ocean, the Californian Sea.