Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Japan’s southernmost islet is so small at nine square meters it conjures up comparisons to boats and bedrooms. Curiously, the government in Tokyo has spent an estimated $600 million on infrastructure such as cement and steel breakwaters to prevent erosion of the tiny feature. It’s also cultivating coral to buff it up. The erosion control and new coral would fortify Okinotori and with it Japan’s control of a giant swathe of the tropical western Pacific around it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2016/07/17/japan-is-quietly-building-a-tiny-tropical-islet-but-an-angry-china-has-noticed/#7590bcfe3d6c