Despite Japan's official stance of non-recognition towards the Polisario, the group portrayed its participation in the TICAD 9 summit, held from August 20 to 22 in Yokohama, as a «victory». However, Tokyo swiftly countered this narrative by requesting the Polisario delegation to halt its activities during the Africa-Japan summit. «Officials from Western Sahara, attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), reported being asked by Japanese authorities to curtail their involvement at the event. Consequently, they opted to leave Japan earlier than planned», a Japanese media outlet reported. Apart from a handful of photographs showing the delegation at the Yokohama summit's opening, Polisario's press coverage made no reference to bilateral meetings with its traditional allies. This stands in sharp contrast to its earlier appearances in South Africa at the African Water Summit and in Ghana at the African Political Parties Conference. Japan's Foreign Minister, Takeshi Iwaya, reiterated his country's position on the Polisario's status to the TICAD 9 attendees. «I want to make it clear that the presence of any entity at this meeting that Japan does not recognize as a state does not affect Japan's position regarding the status of that entity», he declared in a speech.
