The lines that define the rocky relationship between Japan and South Korea

Once a source of fortune for Japanese fishermen hunting sea lions and abalone, a pair of remote rocks is now stopping the United States' two biggest allies in Asia from getting along.

The rocks in the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, have been controlled by South Korea since 1954. None of the 1,200 fishermen on Okinoshima, the nearest inhabited Japanese island, have ever been there.

While the territorial tensions can ebb and flow, a more nationalistic government in Tokyo and media reports highlighting the dispute have again brought the islets into the public eye.

"It used to be that … the general public didn't really care about Takeshima," resident Shoza Yawata, 86, said in the village of Kumi on Okinoshima, about 160km from the rocks known as Dokdo in Korean. "Recently, there has been a backlash against South Korea's control. As Japanese, our blood boils."

The dispute over the islets and their fishing rights, plus South Korea's lingering bitterness over the treatment of its women by Japan's Imperial Army in the second world war, prevents a warming in relations between two of Asia's big economies.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants a more militarily assertive Japan, has seen his calls for a summit with President Park Geun-hye shunned, leaving the US a cheerleader on the sidelines urging better ties.