The Japanese Visited Their Ancestors' Graves on the Kuril Islands
So, the beginning of our program might be unexpected. First, we'll talk about the Southern Kuril Islands. First of all, these are our Southern Kuril Islands. Second, we're the only Russian TV channel with our own bureau in Japan.
A deployment took place from there to the Kuril Islands today. So, in 1945, with no resistance from the samurai, Soviet pacific marines deployed onto the islands. Today, the island's former residents arrived to Kunashir and Iturup. Moscow gracefully allowed this to happen. Did the Japanese appreciate this gesture? Our correspondent Sergey Mingazhev saw the Japanese off from Hokkaido.
A plane with "Aurora" on its nose and a Russian tricolor on its tail arrived to Nakashibetsu earlier. There were more journalists and authorities, than regular passengers. Here, they call this event historic. In the departure hall, it says "Kunashir" for the first time.
A grand farewell on the airfield. Out of 70 people, the majority are relatives of former islands' residents. Only a few people were actually born on the Southern Kuril Islands. Takada-San is from Iturup. In 1945, he was 9.
- My mother is buried there. It's been such a long time, I must visit her after all, I must thank her for raising me.
The banner says "Special ceremony for visiting graves, with thoughts of places from your motherland in your hearts". A curious detail — the Japanese drew the Kurils in a different color.
This is an indirect sign of Tokyo's territorial issues. This is Cape Nossapu, the northernmost point of the Hokkaido island. A view of Southern Kurils opens from here.
That mountain is the Kunashir island. And that strip of land is the Signal island, but the Japanese have their own name for it. They call it Kaigara. It means "a seashell." It looks like a shell of a sea scallop, a local treat.
Along with other seafood, which Southern Kurils are rich in, is considered as the most wanted object by the Japanese, for the future joint agricultural processes on the islands. In this crab store, Japanese really value the Kamchatka crab. It's delivered from Russia in limited quantities.
About 10 years ago, Moscow made Tokyo fight contraband harder. Now, Japanese hope for collaboration. I'm no politician, and I don't quite believe that Japan will get the islands soon. But they need to come up with certain rules that will help solve this problem.
The center of the northern territories is where you can see the islands from. Optics allow to see the clock tower and the frontier post. A propaganda film about the territorial issue, which also comes in Russian. Northern territories joined Japan over 300 years ago.
This happened 100 years before the first Russians arrived to the islands. Then comes the standard set of distortion, manipulation, and flat-out lies. According to the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, northern territories belong to Japan. Let's read what it really says there. Japan turns down all their rights towards the Kuril Islands, and the part of Sakhalin, of which sovereignty was acquired by Japan via the Portsmouth Treaty of 1905.
The island theme is everywhere, even on canned crab. Southern Kurils are marked as the extension of the Hokkaido island. Taking a picture in front of the Kunashir silhouette and then taking a walk on all the images on the road is a must for all visitors. The shore is filled with memorial stones, posts, and blocks. Frog figurines at the base also have a meaning. In Japan, words "frog" and "return", sound alike, like "kaeru".
The Japanese spent the whole day on the Kurils. They put flowers on their relatives' graves. They planned to return in the evening, but the weather thought otherwise. Sunday should bring rain to the Kurils, so the Japanese might be stuck on their historic motherland until Monday.
Meanwhile, Moscow's position on the Kuril issue remains the same. Russia doesn't sell sovereignty. Sergey Mingazhev, Aleksey Pechko, Vesti on Saturday in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, Japan.