From Russia with unrequited love

Shinzo Abe’s courtship of Vladimir Putin has so far yielded little for Japan, writes Brahma Chellaney.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has assiduously courted Russian president Vladimir Putin, meeting with him more than a dozen times in four years.

This month he hosted Putin in Tokyo and in his hometown of Nagato (famed for its onsen, or natural hot springs). But Abe’s courtship has so far yielded little for Japan, and much for Russia.