Russia's president visited a disputed Northern Territory island and told Japan to drop its return claim; Japan protested, and netizens split between praising the firm line and mocking it as toothless.
Two Korea-related items landed together: South Korea announced a music event on Takeshima — the Japan-claimed islets it occupies, which Korea calls Dokdo — ahead of the August 15 anniversary, with coast-guard personnel taking part; and a Korean influencer who said she had been racially mocked at the World Cup posted a video stomping on and wiping the floor with a Messi shirt. Japanese reaction was dominated by irritation at the territorial display and by a step-back consensus: engaging only feeds the other side's publicity, so ignoring it is best. Alongside the anger ran self-critical voices about Japan's own passivity and open mockery of the shirt stunt as a self-inflicted own goal.