Japan has spent 75 billion yen protecting a rock smaller than your bedroom – Okinotorishima, which is located in the Pacific Ocean with a size of 16 square meters.
Why would Japan spend billions (over 350 million pounds) to protect something you could walk across in a few seconds? The reason is very serious and justified.
According to international maritime law, every piece of land gives you 370 kilometers of control of the ocean in all directions.
This microscopic island gives Japan 432.000 square kilometers of exclusive ocean territory, which is twice the size of Japan itself.
We are talking about potential trillions of unused resources, oil reserves, natural gas, rare earths, and exclusive fishing rights.
If this rock disappears underwater, Japan loses a large and valuable ocean area. That is why the Land of the Rising Sun turned Okinotorishima into a fortress with concrete barriers, monitoring systems, and permanent maintenance teams just to keep the tiny island above water.
They are literally fighting against nature with engineering in order to protect their maritime empire.
