Fishermen say Japan’s coast guard is warning them away from Senkaku Islands amid China row

Japan coast guard vessels sail north of Uotsuri island, part of the Senkaku chain, in April 2024. (Ishigaki city, Okinawa)

Commercial fishermen on a remote Japanese island say the Japan coast guard has urged them to avoid fishing near the disputed Senkaku Islands ever since November comments by their prime minister increased tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.

Some members of the Yaeyama Fisheries Cooperative Association, which represents fishermen on Ishigaki island, have reported informal requests from the coast guard to stay away from the Senkakus, the association’s managing director, Kokichi Irabu, said by phone Thursday.

The Japanese government has made no formal request of commercial fishermen, Irabu said.

However, Irabu said an unspecified number of fishermen began reporting the coast guard’s comments after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a November parliamentary session that Tokyo could use military force if Beijing attacks Taiwan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to unify Taiwan with the mainland, by force if necessary.

A coast guard spokeswoman declined by phone Thursday to answer questions about any requests made regarding the Senkakus but said the service “communicates with fishermen on a case-by-case basis.”

Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.

The Senkakus, administered by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan, include five islets and three reefs 105 miles east of Taiwan and 254 miles west of Okinawa. The area is believed to contain oil reserves and other resources, fueling Chinese challenges since the 1970s to Japan’s claim over the islands.

In 2025, Chinese coast guard vessels entered territorial waters around the islands 27 times, the agency said. They also sailed in Japan’s contiguous zone around the Senkakus a record 357 times last year.

Ishigaki is about 95 miles southeast of Uotsuri Island, the largest of the Senkakus.

About 300 fishermen belong to the association, and about 10 of them regularly fish near the Senkakus – but none have gone since November, Irabu said.

Among them is Hitoshi Nakama, a member of the Ishigaki city council since 1994 and of Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party.

“I think everyone who fishes in Ishigaki knows or has been told by the coast guard not to go to the Senkakus,” he told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday.

Nakama met with Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama in December and received a similar warning, he said.

“She never said it clearly — she just said, ‘Small disputes might get bigger and grow into a war’ — but I know what she meant.”

Nakama said he started fishing near the Senkakus in 1995. He has landed on the islands 16 times, has been forwarded to Japanese prosecutors 13 times and was once fined 100,000 yen — about $660 — for violating the Ship Safety Act, he said.

“I’m doing this because we have to say that the Senkakus are part of Japan,” he said. “China wants this area after knowing that there is oil in the seabed.”

Nakama said he has not been to the Senkakus since November due to poor sea conditions, but he usually tries to go once a month. He’s noticed increased aggression from the Chinese coast guard vessels he encounters near the islands.

“They tell me on their speakers that the relationship between China and Japan is broken because of me,” he said.