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Today, these islands are divided between the sovereign states of Palau, Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands, with the United States continuing to control Guam and the Northern Marianas.
Today, these islands are divided between the sovereign states of Palau, Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands, with the United States continuing to control Guam and the Northern Marianas.
==Early Japanese Activity==
In the last decades of the 19th century, Japanese began to venture out into the Pacific in small numbers, most of them acting independently as entrepreneurs, though the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] soon began using the islands and the waters around them for training missions. Journeys to Micronesia by the navy ships ''Tsukuba'' in [[1875]] and ''Ryûjo'' in [[1884]] were among the most significant; in the meantime, some number of Japanese entrepreneurs began sailing to the [[Ogasawara Islands]], Micronesia, and elsewhere, establishing small-scale shops and warehouses, trading in various goods, copra and coconut oil chief among them. Some, such as Mori Koben (1869-1945) established themselves on islands such as Truk, living there for decades, and fathering numerous half-Japanese/half-Micronesian children.
When a number of Japanese fishermen were killed on or near Lae Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1884, a small official mission led by [[Suzuki Keikun]] and [[Goto Taketaro|Gotô Taketarô]] traveled there to seek a formal apology from the local chiefs. Once there, they planted a flag and claimed the island for Japan, though the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] disavowed it very shortly afterward.
==History as Colony==
==History as Colony==
