[Brief translation]
Tokyo - Yoshihiro Yamada, is determined to find new ways to defend Japan's territory from Chinese encroachment. For years, Japan has called Okinotorishima an island, which allows Japan to claim not only sovereignty but also exclusive economic control of waters extending out 230 miles, or 200 natural miles, in every direction. Then, last April, Beijing suddenly cried out. At a routine meeting of midlevel diplomats from both sides, the Chinese representatives said their nation now views Okinotorishima as just a rock. That definition doesn't question Japan's sovereignty. But it would erase Japan's claim to the vast exclusive economic zone, or EEZ. At Nippon Foundation's Tokyo headquarters, Mr. Yamada looked over more than a dozen proposals made by his junketeers for creating self-sustaining economic activity on the outcropping. Japanese officials and politicians say they welcome the Nippon Foundation's efforts. The Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport, which administers the island, also says it will likely approve whatever Mr. Yamada comes up with. So far, Mr. Yamada has decided to fund two projects. The first is a $10 million, unnamed lighthouse. But Mr. Yamada's heart is in another, more ambitious project: To gradually expand Okinotori's landmass until it's big enough to hold a permanent population. If the plan works at all, it will take decades or even a century before the island is large enough to be useful. That doesn't deter Mr. Yamada. "The Law of the Sea doesn't specify that economic activity has to start right away," he says. - James T. Areddy in Shanghai contributed to this article-