Takaichi Vows to Resume Grave Visits by Ex-Islanders

Tokyo, Dec. 2 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has vowed to realize the early restart of visits to graves on Russian-controlled northwestern Pacific islands by former Japanese residents of the islands. She made the pledge on Monday after receiving a set of requests regarding the islands from Naomichi Suzuki, governor of the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, during a meeting at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo the same day. The islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II and have long been claimed by Japan. Grave visits by former residents have been suspended following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022. “This is a humanitarian issue for which we cannot waste any more time as former residents of the islands are very old,” Takaichi said at the meeting, indicating her intention to ask Russia for cooperation to resume such grave visits. Among the requests was a call for continuing diplomatic negotiations to achieve the early return of the islands to Japan. “We hope that concrete progress will be made in the efforts to resolve the territorial issue,” Suzuki told reporters after the meeting. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]