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) (Hoppo Ryodo) or Southern Chishima (南千島). The disputed islands are: 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, group of people or oneself. ... For the political history of the sovereignty conflict, see Kuril Islands dispute. ... The Sakhalin Oblast (Russian: Сахали́нская о́бласть) is a regional subdivision of Russia. ...

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

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. ... 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. ... The Hobomai Rocks (Russian: Хабомай (Khabomai), Japanese: ??? (Habomai)) are a group of islets in the very south end of the Kuril Islands. ... 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 is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50 and 54° 24 N, in the Russian Far East. ... Treaty signing ceremony The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on September 5, 1905 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near 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 page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Uruppu (得撫島, urupputou) is one of the Kuril Islands to the north of Japan. ...

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. The Ainu (pronounced , eye-noo, or ah-ee-noo) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido, the northern part of Honshu in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ...

See also

• Foreign relations of Japan
• Treaty of Saint Petersburg.

Foreign relations of Japan - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Treaty of Saint Petersburg was signed in 1875 between Japan and Russia. ...

External link

• Japan's Northern Territories (Japanese government website)
• News from Kuril Islands (News Blog in German and English)
• Map of the region showing the history of the Russo-Japanese border
• The convoluted case of the coveted Kurils analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (November 25, 2004)
• Northern Territories dispute highlights flawed diplomacy by Gregory Clark, Japan Times (March 24, 2005)
• Creative thinking on the Kurils analysis by Kosuke Takahashi (April 20, 2005)
• http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200506200078.html Akaha and Vassilieva, "Lessons for Improved Japan - Russia Relations," Asahi Shimbun, June 20, 2005, Monterey Institute of International Studies