Occupied territories of Georgia
According to the October 2014 Joint Statement between Japan and Georgia on "Solidarity for Peace and Democracy": "Both sides shared the view that peaceful resolution to the conflict in Georgia's occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia in line with the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders are essential for the peace and stability of the country and the entire South Caucasus region". Japan's position on "Georgia's occupied regions of Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia and Abkhazia" was reaffirmed in the 1 March 2017 statement by the Embassy of Japan in Georgia.
Occupied territories of Georgia
On 15 April 2014, three Georgian journalists were detained near an administrative boundary line of South Ossetia. The TV crew was working on a report about "borderization" and a shift of the boundary deeper into Georgian-controlled areas. Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that the journalists "intentionally and demonstratively" crossed the border and this was "a planned action for the purposes of complicating the atmosphere" of the scheduled meeting between Russian and Georgian diplomats (Grigory Karasin and Zurab Abashidze) in Prague on 16 April. The Ministry said in an official statement: "All this, together with the latest cock-and-bull stories about 'violations of Georgian air space by Russian aircraft', is evidence that the forces attempting to normalise relations with Russia, and the forces sharing the regime of Mikheil Saakashvili supporting the escalation of hostilities, continue to fight within the Georgian community." The detained journalists were released later on 16 April. One of them, journalist Bela Zakaidze recalled the hours spent in pre-detention isolator in Tskhinvali and talked about psychological pressure. Grigory Karasin said: "The journalists were detained for understandable reasons. Today they were expelled back to Georgian territory under a judgment of the South Ossetian court."