'They're dilapidated, but they're still symbolic representations of the vibrant Japanese community.' 'Now, these islands were where Japanese communities lived there were fisheries communities, agricultural communities and where people built their lives, and if you go there today you'll see the remnants of ancestral graves and shrines and temples. 'At the end of World War II, the then-Soviet Union invaded the territories that were then part of the Japanese Empire and occupied and took four additional islands,' said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo. Russia controls the territories it calls the Kuril Islands - but Japan claims the rights to them, referring to them as its 'Northern Territories'.Ī Japanese Coast Guard vessel is seen off the coast near the Southern Kurils. 'We will use every effort to do it within our generation.' What's the dispute about? 'Without infringing upon the rights of either side, we are doing our best with to reach our common aim - to sign a peace treaty. 'Our new approach changes Russia-Japan cooperation,' Mr Abe said.

Instead, in 1956 it signed a joint declaration that would technically 'end the state of war' - but the countries' relations have never been cosy.īut after a recent meeting in Vladivostok with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flagged that talks were heading in the right direction. They're four small islands near Japan's northernmost tip, but they pose one giant problem for relations between Tokyo and Moscow.ĭisputes over their ownership have caused deep rifts between Russia and Japan, so much so that 70 years after World War II the two countries have never signed a peace treaty.Īt the conclusion of the war, the Soviet Union never signed the formal Treaty of Peace with Japan.

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