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Friendship house on Russian-held island converted into lodging facility

Photo taken on July 24, 2023, shows a sports bar in a Japan-donated friendship facility on Russian-held Kunashiri Island off Hokkaido, northern Japan. The so-called Muneo House, named after Japanese lawmaker Muneo Suzuki due to his involvement in the construction project, was converted into a commercial facility after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and is currently being used as a lodging facility rather than a center for mutual exchanges as initially agreed by Japan and Russia.

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Power plant on Russian-held island

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - A January 2011 photo shows an old geothermal power plant operating on Kunashiri Island, one of four islands at the heart of a long-standing territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. A U.S. company has begun work to set up a new geothermal power plant on the island.

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Russia using N. Koreans, other foreign workers on disputed islands

MOSCOW, Russia - North Korean men work at a construction site in a photo taken on Aug. 7 in Kunashiri Island, one of the disputed Russian-held islands off Hokkaido. Russia has been increasingly using North Korean and other foreign workers in development projects on the disputed islands, apparently for the cheap labor costs.

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Russia using N. Koreans, other foreign workers on disputed islands

MOSCOW, Russia - A North Korean man works at a construction site in a photo taken on Aug. 7 in Kunashiri Island, one of the disputed Russian-held islands off Hokkaido. Russia has been increasingly using North Korean and other foreign workers in development projects on the disputed islands, apparently for the cheap labor costs.

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Preserving facility for Nemuro-Kunashiri submarine cable

KUSHIRO, Japan - A now-defunct facility in Nemuro, Hokkaido, for a submarine communications cable, which used to connect the Nemuro Peninsula and Kunashiri, one of the four Russian-controlled and Japanese-claimed islands off Japan's northernmost main island, is seen in May 2014 (upper frame) and on Aug. 12, 2014 (lower frame). The lower shows work underway to preserve the facility.

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Memorial service held on disputed Kunashiri Island

SAPPORO, Japan - A memorial service is held for ancestors at a cemetery on Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-controlled, Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido, on Aug. 2, 2014, attended by a group of former islanders visiting their family graves on the disputed islands. (Photo by accompanying press)

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New culture hall on Kunashiri Island

SAPPORO, Japan - A new culture hall, opened in February 2014 in Furukamappu on Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-administered islands in the Northern Territories claimed by Japan off Hokkaido, is seen on May 24, 2014. A group of 65 people from Japan, including former residents of the territories, visited the island under the non-visa visit frameworks. During an exchange with local residents, both sides expressed their hopes for joint economic activities. The photo was taken by an accompanying reporter. (Pool photo)

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Wintering eagles gather on drift ice in Shiretoko, Japan

RAUSU, Japan - Eagles passing the winter in Shiretoko, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Hokkaido, northern Japan, gather over drift ice against the backdrop of the morning sun rising from behind the Russian-held Kunashiri Island. The brown bird in the center below is a white-tailed sea eagle designated as a national natural treasure, as are other birds known as Steller's sea eagles.

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U.S. firm to build wind power plant on Kunashiri

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Photo taken in February 2013 shows the headquarters of Sakhalin Machinery LLC in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia. The company, owned by Tiger Machinery LLC based in the U.S. state of Alabama, won an order to build a wind power generation plant on Kunashiri Island, a senior Sakhalin Province official said on March 29, 2013. Kunashiri is one of four-Russian held islands claimed by Japan.

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Sea eagle and drift ice

SAPPORO, Japan - A Steller's sea eagle flies over drift ice between the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido, and Kunashiri Island (background) on Feb. 22, 2013.

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Russia releases 2 Japanese men

KUSHIRO, Japan - (From R) Shigeo Nakamura and Kuniaki Yamagata arrive at Nemuro port in Hokkaido on July 14, 2012, after Russia released the two Japanese men detained in late June by Russian border control officials while sailing near Kunashiri, a disputed island off Hokkaido.

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Sea eagles on drift ice

SAPPORO, Japan - Steller's sea eagles and white-tailed eagles are seen on drift ice in the sea between the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido, and Kunashiri Island (background) on March 5, 2012.

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Sea eagles on drift ice

SAPPORO, Japan - Steller's sea eagles and white-tailed eagles are seen on drift ice in the sea between the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaido, and Kunashiri Island (background) on March 5, 2012.

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UNDP's ecotourism survey on disputed Russian-held island

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Photo shows questionnaires for a survey by the U.N. Development Program of residents of a Russian-held island, known as Kunashiri in Japan, off Hokkaido. The survey has been launched at Moscow's request mainly to promote ecotourism to the Kurilsky State Nature Reserve on the island, Kyodo News learned Feb. 3, 2012. In Japan, which also claims sovereignty over Kunashiri and other disputed islands in the area, the government urges Japanese not to travel there on Russian visas as doing so would be tantamount to recognizing Moscow's rule over the islands.

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S. Korean lawmakers return from Kunashiri

SEOUL, South Korea - Kang Chang Il, a lawmaker from South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party, speaks at a press conference at Incheon airport, South Korea, on May 25, 2011. Kang and two other South Korean lawmakers returned from Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.

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New, old piers on Russian-held island

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia - Photo taken Jan. 21, 2011, shows a newly built pier (back) and an old one (front) in Furukamappu on Kunashiri Island. Infrastructure development is being promoted by Russia on the island claimed by Japan.

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Family on Russian-held island visited by Medvedev

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia - Vyacheslav Nodirov (L), a welder on Kunashiri Island, and his family are photographed Jan. 21, 2011, at their home on the island, one of four subject to a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. He was visited by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in November 2010.

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Housing district on Russian-held island

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia - Photo taken Jan. 20, 2011, shows a housing district in Furukamappu on Kunashiri Island, a Russian-controlled island claimed by Japan.

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Maehara views disputed isles

SAPPORO, Japan - Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, aboard a Japan Coast Guard plane, views Russian-held islands claimed by Japan off Hokkaido on Dec. 4, 2010. Maehara, who flew near the islands after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Kunashiri Island, reiterated Japan's resolve to settle the territorial dispute with Russia. (Pool Photo)

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Recalled Japanese ambassador returning to Moscow

NARITA, Japan - Japanese Ambassador to Russia Masaharu Kono is leaving Narita airport near Tokyo for Moscow on Nov. 7, 2010. Japan had Kono return to Moscow after recalling him following Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Kunashiri Island off Hokkaido, one of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.

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Japan protests Medvedev's island visit

TOKYO, Japan - Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara is questioned by reporters in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2010. Maehara summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Bely to protest Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Kunashiri Island, one of a group of Russian-held but Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido. Maehara said at a Diet committee meeting that the first-ever visit by a leader of Russia or the former Soviet Union to the island hurts Japanese public sentiment.

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Medvedev visits disputed island

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (C) is surrounded by employees at a kindergarten on Kunashiri Island, one of the Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, on Nov. 1, 2010. Japan protested the visit. (Photo provided by a resident of Kunashiri Island)

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Japan protests Medvedev's island visit

TOKYO, Japan - Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Bely is surrounded by reporters as he leaves the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2010. Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara summoned Bely to protest Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Kunashiri Island, one of a group of Russian-held but Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido.

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Medvedev visits disputed island

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) visits a kindergarten on Kunashiri Island, one of the Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, on Nov. 1, 2010. Japan protested the visit. (Photo provided by a resident of Kunashiri Island)

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Japan protests Medvedev's island visit

TOKYO, Japan - Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Bely speaks to reporters at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2010, as Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara summoned Bely to protest Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Kunashiri Island, one of a group of Russian-held but Japanese-claimed islands off Hokkaido. Bely told reporters the president's move was made purely from the standpoint of domestic politics and has no significant impact internationally.

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Aerial image of Kunashiri Island

TOKYO, Japan - Aerial photo taken in 2005 of Kunashiri Island, one of four Russian-administered islands off Hokkaido claimed by Japan. The islands are referred to as the Northern Territories by Japan and the Southern Kurils by Russia.

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Japan cancels humanitarian aid to disputed islands

MOSCOW, Russia - A Japanese ship is seen anchored off Kunashiri, one of four disputed Russian-held islands, on Jan. 28. The Japanese government decided to cancel humanitarian assistance to the four islands for the remainder of fiscal 2008 through March after Russia demanded the previous day that Japanese officials on board submit arrival cards before disembarking. Russia had not made such a request when Japan delivered aid previously in 2006 and 2007.

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Sick skipper of seized boat returns home

KUSHIRO, Japan - Shigemi Fujimoto (R), the captain of the Hoyu Maru No. 31 which was seized by Russian border guards off the disputed Kunashiri Island on Dec. 13, returns to Nemuro port in Hokkaido on Dec. 20. The Japanese side had called for Fujimoto's early release because he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

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Russian boy leaves hospital after treatment for serious burns

SAPPORO, Japan - Nikita Ryzhov, a 2-year-old Russian boy from Kunashiri Island, holds a bouquet of flowers at the Sapporo University Hospital in Hokkaido on Dec. 7 after he was discharged from the hospital where he underwent skin transplant operations for serious burns. Ryzhov was the first patient from one of the four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan to be transferred to a Japanese hospital for emergency treatment.

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Russian foreign minister visits disputed island of Kunashiri

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (C) arrives in Kunashiri Island, one of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, on June 3. He is the first Russian foreign minister to visit one of the islands known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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Japanese skipper of fishing boat captured by Russia returns home

NEMURO, Japan - Takashi Kawabata, the skipper of the fishing boat Zuisho Maru No. 38, arrives at Nemuro port in Hokkaido Prefecture on May 28, four months after being taken into custody by Russian border guard off Kunashiri, one of the four islands claimed Russia and Japan.

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Fishing boat skipper returns home from Kunashiri

NEMURO, Japan - Noboru Sakashita (C), the skipper of a Japanese crab-fishing boat, returned home on Oct. 3 after he was captured by Russian authorities over intruding into and poaching in Russian-claimed waters off Nemuro, Hokkaido.

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Fishing boat skipper returns home from Kunashiri

NEMURO, Japan - Noboru Sakashita (C), the skipper of a Japanese crab-fishing boat, is moved to tears on returning home at Nemuro port, Hokkaido on Oct. 3 after he was captured by Russian authorities over intruding into and poaching in Russian-claimed waters off Nemuro.

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Russian court imposes fine on Japanese fishing boat skipper

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Noboru Sakashita, the captain of the crab fishing boat Kisshin Maru No. 31, attends a hearing at the South Kuril District Court in Yuzhno-Kurilsk on the Russian-held Kunashiri Island on Sept. 21. The Russian court ordered him to pay about 500,000 rubles ($12,700, or 2.2 million yen) in fines and damages for intruding into and poaching in Russian-claimed territorial waters just off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido in mid-August.

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Russian court likely to rule on Japanese skipper Thursday: report

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Noboru Sakashita, a Japanese fishing boat skipper, looks at photographers from the building in Kunashiri Island on Sept. 17, where he has been detained for alleged poaching in Russian waters. A Russian court is expected to hand down a ruling on him on Sept. 21. (Pool photo)

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Fisherman's body returns to Japan

NEMURO, Japan - The coffin of Mitsuhiro Morita, a 35-year-old fisherman who was shot dead on Aug. 16 by a Russian border patrol boat, is unloaded from the Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel Saroma at Nemuro port, Hokkaido, on Aug. 19. Earlier in the day, Russia handed over the body to Japanese officials on Russian-held Kunashiri Island.

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3 Japanese fishermen on Russian-held Kunashiri Island

TOKYO, Japan - Three Japanese fishermen -- (From L to R) Noboru Sakashita, captain of the fishing boat Kisshin Maru No. 31, Haruki Kamiya and Akiyoshi Kawamura -- are seen detained at a facility on the Russian-held Kunashiri Island. The photo was taken on Aug. 18 by a local newspaper under permission of Russian authorities.

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Coast Guard ship heads to Kunashiri to collect fisherman's body

NEMURO, Japan - A Japan Coast Guard ship leaves Nemuro, Hokkaido, on Aug. 18 for Russian-administered Kunashiri Island to collect the body of a Japanese fisherman killed by gunfire from a Russian border patrol boat off Nemuro.

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570 on Peace Boat set sail to visit disputed island

KOBE, Japan - A cruiser chartered by Peace Boat, a nongovernmental organization, leaves Kobe port on Aug. 15, taking some 570 passengers on a voyage to places including Kunashiri Island, despite a Foreign Ministry request not to visit the disputed territory.

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Mitsui offices searched in bid-rigging case

TOKYO, Japan - Prosecutors walk into the head office of Mitsui & Co. in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on July 4, one day after the arrest of three Mitsui employees on suspicion of rigging bids for a power project on Russian-held Kunashiri Island in 2000.

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Prosecutors search Mitsui official's house

URAYASU, Japan - Prosecutors searched the house of Masahide Iino, head of a Mitsui & Co. industry project team, in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, on July 3. Iino was arrested earlier in the day along with two other Mitsui employees on suspicion of interfering in the bidding process for a government-funded power project on Russian-held Kunashiri Island in 2000.

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Mitsui executive apologizes for employees' arrest

TOKYO, Japan - Jun Tashiro (L), vice president of Mitsui & Co., apologizes at the Tokyo head office July 3 over the arrest of three employees on suspicion of interfering in the bidding process for a government-funded power project on Russian-held Kunashiri Island in 2000.

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(2)Senior Mitsui officials arrested in bid-rigging case

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken May 25, 2002, shows a government-funded power generation facility on Russian-held Kunashiri Island. On July 3, prosecutors arrested senior officials of Mitsui & Co. for allegedly interfering in the bidding process for the facility.

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(1)Senior Mitsui officials arrested in bid-rigging case

TOKYO, Japan - Photo shows the Tokyo head office of Mitsui & Co. Senior Mitsui officials were arrested July 3 for allegedly interfering in the bidding for a government-funded power project on Russian-held Kunashiri Island in 2000.

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U.S. concerned over info leak to Russia through Japan diplomat

TOKYO, Japan - Masaru Sato (L), a Russian affairs expert at the Foreign Ministry, and lawmaker Muneo Suzuki (R) are seen together with Russian officials in a photo taken on Oct. 29, 2000 on the Russian-held Kunashiri Island, east of Hokkaido. The United States is concerned about possible leaks of U.S. information to Russia through Sato, who was arrested for alleged fund fraud on May 14.

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(2)Prosecutors begin grilling people linked to Muneo House

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Akira Miyano, secretary to lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, who was arrested April 30 on suspicion he interfered in the bidding process of Muneo House, a building on disputed Kunashiri Island named after Suzuki.

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(1)Suzuki's secretary arrested

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki who quit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in March under pressure following a series of scandals, including his meddling in Foreign Ministry affairs. Prosecutors arrested his secretary Akira Miyano on April 30 on suspicion he interfered in the bidding process of Muneo House, a building on disputed Kunashiri Island named after Suzuki.

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(4)Prosecutors begin grilling people linked to Muneo House

TOKYO, Japan - File photo Lawmaker Meneo Suzuki (L) who attended a ceremony marking the completion of the House of Friendship on Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido claimed by Japan, in October 1999. The house doubles as an accommodation and evacuation facility.

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(3)Prosecutors begin grilling people linked to Muneo House

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows the House of Friendship built with Japanese aid on disputed Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido claimed by Japan. It is dubbed Muneo House after lawmaker Muneo Suzuki.

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Suzuki was 'deeply involved' in Russia aid projects

TOKYO, Japan - Muneo Suzuki, a lawmaker and Liberal Democratic Party politician, leaves the party headquarters in Tokyo on March 4. A Foreign Ministry investigation has determined that Suzuki was ''deeply involved'' in the bidding process for two Japanese government-funded projects on Kunashiri Island, a Russian-held island claimed by Japan.