The Kuril Islands with the disputed islands highlighted

The Kuril Island conflict is a dispute between Japan and Russia over sovereignty over the southernmost Kuril Islands. The disputed islands are currently under Russian administration as part of the Sakhalin Oblast, but are also claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the Northern Territories (北方領土) or Southern Chishima (南千島). The disputed islands are called: The Kurile Islands with the disputed islands highlighted. ... The Kurile Islands with the disputed islands highlighted. ... Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region or group of people, such as a nation or a tribe. ... The Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands (Russian: Кури́льские острова́), also known as Kurile Islands, stretch northeast from Hokkaido, Japan, to Kamchatka, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. ... Categories: Russia geography stubs | Oblasts of Russia | History of Manchuria ...

• Kunashiri in Japanese (国後島), or "Kunashir" in Russian (Кунашир)
• Etorofu in Japanese (択捉島), or "Iturup" in Russian (Итуруп)
• Shikotan in Japanese (色丹島) and Russian (Шикотан)
• The Habomai rocks in Japanese (歯舞群島) and Russian (Хабомай)

The dispute results from an ambiguity over the Treaty of San Francisco (1951). Under Article 2c), Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands, and to that portion of Sakhalin and the islands adjacent to it over which Japan acquired sovereignty as a consequence of the Treaty of Portsmouth of 5 September 1905. Kunashir Island (国後島:Kunashiri in Japanese, Кунашир (Kunashir) in Russian, Black Island in Ainu language), a southwestern island of the Kuril Islands, located in the Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Federation. ... Iturup (Ainu イト゚ルㇷ゚; Japanese 択捉島, Etorofu; Russian Итуруп) is the biggest island of the Kuriles, located in the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. ... Iturup (Ainu イト゚ルㇷ゚; Japanese 択捉島, Etorofu; Russian Итуруп) is the biggest island of the Kuriles, located in the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. ... Shikotan (色丹島) (Shikotan in Japanese, Шикотан in Russian), one of the bigger islands of the Kuril Islands, located in the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. ... Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru of Japan, gave a speech on Reconciliation and rapport (和解と信頼) in 1951 at San Francisco Peace conference. ... Sakhalin (Russian: ), also Saghalien, Kuye (Chinese: 库页岛; pinyin: ), or Karafuto (Japanese: ) is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50 and 54° 24 N, in Far East, Russia. ... Treaty signing ceremony The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on September 5, 1905 at the Portsmouth Naval Base, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by Sergius Witte and Roman Rosen (for Russia) and Komura Jutaro and Takahira Kogoro (for Japan), ending the Russo-Japanese War. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

However, the Soviet Union chose not to be signatory to the San Francisco Treaty. And Article 2 of an earlier (1855) Russo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation (the Shimoda Treaty), which provided for an agreement on borders, states "Henceforth the boundary between the two nations shall lie between the islands of Etorofu and Uruppu. The whole of Etorofu shall belong to Japan; and the Kurile Islands, lying to the north of and including Uruppu, shall belong to Russia." Note that Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomais Islands are not explicitly mentioned in the treaty. This article is about the city in California. ...

Japan mantains its claim to the whole of South Kurile Islands. Russian position varies from administration to administration; as of December 2004, it tends to follow the declaration signed by the USSR and Japan in 1956 which stipulated for the disputed group being divided between the two nations, Russia keeping the two northernmost islands and ceding Shikotan and the Habomais to Japan.

However, the claims of the indigenous Ainu people to the islands have gone largely ignored by the powers that be. For Ainu in J.R.R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Arda, see Ainur. ...

See also

• Foreign relations of Japan, Treaty of Saint Petersburg.

Despite a tendency to slow economic growth since 1990, Japan remains a major economic power. ... The Treaty of Saint Petersburg was signed in 1875 between Japan and Russia. ...

External link

• Japan's Northern Territories (http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/russia/territory/) (Japanese government website)

• News from Kuril Islands (http://kurilen.blogg.de/) (News Blog in German and English)

• Map of the region showing the history of the Russo-Japanese border (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/japan_ussr_rel88.jpg)

• The convoluted case of the coveted Kurils (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FK25Dh01.html) analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (November 25, 2004)

• Creative thinking on the Kurils (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GD20Dh03.html) analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (April 20, 2005)