Japanese wet dreams

[Taro Toporific]

Resource-deprived Japan is dreaming of undersea riches
AP
Thursday, Aug 28, 2003, TaipeiTimes.com Page 5
Eyeing undersea riches including gold, cobalt and manganese, resource-poor Japan is planning a large-scale survey project to stake its claim to continental shelves before a UN deadline expires in six years....Under the 1983 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal state may claim rights to the resources of a continental shelf beyond its 370km exclusive economic zone provided there is geographical or geological continuity of the seabed.
For Japan to stake its claim, it must submit survey data for approval to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf by May 2009.
Preliminary surveys by Japan's coast guard indicate the island nation could claim some 650,000km2 of continental shelves -- an area about 1.7 times its territory

[kurohinge1]

... a coastal state may claim rights to the resources of a continental shelf beyond its 370km exclusive economic zone provided there is geographical or geological continuity of the seabed ...

There's an opening for FG's, if ever I saw one! (albeit extremely boring and highly dangerous) -

Walking along the seabed, looking for continuity faults