Japan-Russia Relations

A group of junior high and high school students from Okinawa Prefecture visited Nemuro in Hokkaido late last year to learn firsthand about the disputed islands off Hokkaido controlled by Russia. Known as the Northern Territories in Japan, these four islands—Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group—were seized by Soviet forces in the closing days of World War II in 1945 and have remained under Russian control ever since. Over 80 years after the war's end, former Japanese residents are still unable to return to their hometowns.