World map using U.N.-backed method 'corrected' over disputed islands: Japan

On Friday, the Japanese government confirmed that a world map using a U.N.-backed projection method was corrected after Japan requested changes to the color used for disputed islands off Hokkaido. The map, which is part of the Equal Earth map projection, has been made available online by its developers. The Equal Earth map projection, encouraged by the U.N.

General Assembly, aims to show countries and continents at their true sizes relative to each other. Japan supported the U.N. resolution against the traditional Mercator projection, which often misrepresented Africa's size. However, questions arose about the depiction of four Northern Territory islands off Hokkaido, which were initially shown in the same color as nearby Russian land on the Equal Earth map.

The Japanese government asked the website operator to modify the map through diplomatic missions. As a result, the map was corrected, with the Northern Territories colored the same as Japan in the Japanese version and in a neutral color in the English version. An annotation on both versions read, "Administered by Russia, claimed by Japan."

Russian presidential adviser Yury Ushakov dismissed Japan's demand to change the map as "just nonsense." The government emphasized the need to prevent misconceptions about Japan's territory and geographical names from spreading. Japan asserts that the islands were illegally seized by the Soviet Union shortly after Japan's surrender in World War II in 1945, while Russia claims the seizure was legitimate.

The sovereignty dispute over the islands hinders the signing of a formal peace treaty between Tokyo and Moscow, more than 80 years after the war ended.