Most Japanese Favor Flexible Approach in Solving Territorial Dispute with Russia

TOKYO (Sputnik) — According to Mainichi newspaper, 57 percent of the Japanese nationals said that the country’s government should be flexible in solving the territorial dispute with Russia, while 25 percent of those surveyed favored a tough approach, claiming that four islands — Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai – should be transferred to Japan. At the same time, nine percent of the respondents were not interested in the issue at all.

The survey was conducted on November 5-6 throughout Japan.

Japan and Russia did not sign a permanent peace treaty after World War II due to a dispute over four islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan — the Northern Territories that include Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai.

On October 16, 1956, Tokyo and Moscow signed the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration, which ended the state of war and provided for trade development, the resolution of the territorial dispute and the eventual signing of the peace treaty. However, the solution to the territorial dispute has not been found yet.

The relations between the two states have recently been re-energized. In September, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took part in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, during which he held three-hour talks with the Russian president. One of the outcomes of the meeting was the announcement of Putin's visit to Japan on December 15, which had been postponed from 2014.

Currently, the Japan’s government is making efforts to develop economic relations with Russia, hoping to create necessary conditions to sign the peace treaty between the two states and resolve the territorial dispute.