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The New World Map Has A Second Objector. It Isn't Africa.
Six days after the UN General Assembly adopted a new world map, it has a second objector — and Japan's complaint has nothing to do with Africa.
On 4 September 2026 the Assembly voted 164 to 1 to adopt the Equal Earth projection, the map that stops shrinking Africa. The single no vote was the United States. This week Japan lodged a protest of its own: on the new map, the Kuril Islands are drawn as Russian.
Japan calls them the Northern Territories — four islands north of Hokkaido, taken by Soviet forces at the end of the Second World War and held by Moscow ever since. The dispute is why Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the map "contained a depiction contradicting the Japanese government's position," and that Japan "needs to prevent misconceptions of our territories and geographical names from spreading." The protest went to the operator of the map site through diplomatic channels — Japan is not asking the UN to re-run the vote, it is asking for one corner of the picture to be redrawn.
The timing isn't an accident. Last month Vladimir Putin visited the disputed islands for the first time. Japan summoned Russia's ambassador, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the visit "offends the sentiments of the Japanese people."
Equal Earth fixed the size of Africa. It could not fix who owns what.
References
Reporting drawn from Japan Times · CTV News · ABC News (Australia) · The Peninsula · Reuters
What the reel says
Narration as scripted and voiced.
The new world map the United Nations adopted last week has its second objector. It is not about Africa. Japan wants four islands moved
On the 4th of September, the General Assembly voted 164 to one to adopt the Equal Earth projection, a map that stops shrinking Africa. The one no vote was the United States
This week, Japan lodged a protest, and the complaint has nothing to do with Africa at all. On the new map, the Kuril Islands are drawn as Russian
Japan calls them the Northern Territories. Four islands north of Hokkaido taken by Soviet forces in the last days of the Second World War and held by Moscow ever since. Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty because of them.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minoru Kihara, said the map contained a depiction contradicting the Japanese government's position and that Japan needs to prevent misconceptions of its territories and geographical names from spreading
The protest went to the operator of the map site through diplomatic channels. Japan is not asking the United Nations to undo the vote. It is asking for the border on one corner of the picture to be redrawn
The timing is not an accident. Last month, Vladimir Putin visited the disputed islands for the first time. Japan summoned Moscow's ambassador, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the visit offends the sentiments of the Japanese people.
So the map that was redrawn to end one distortion is now evidence in a different argument. Equal Earth fixed the size of Africa. It could not fix who owns what
Every map is a claim about the world, and somebody always disagrees with it. This one took six days to find its second objector
All footage is licensed stock. No UN feed and no wire pictures.
