TOKYO - Seventy years since the normalization of ties between Japan and the Soviet Union, residents of one of the Russian-controlled islands north of the Japanese archipelago that was to be returned to Japan under the 1956 agreement believe that the idea is now far-fetched.
The joint declaration signed 70 years ago states that of the four islands northeast of Hokkaido, seized by the Soviet Union following Japan's surrender in World War II, the two smaller ones are to be returned to Japan once the countries conclude a peace treaty.
While the smallest Habomai islet group is said to only host border guard personnel, approximately 3,000 Russians live on Shikotan Island.
The only remnants on Shikotan of the era before the war are a now-defunct lighthouse at its northeastern tip and a cemetery.
A library, school, and diesel power plant, built in the 1990s with Japanese support, are still in active use, but a clinic that was also constructed then was demolished several years ago due to severe rusting caused by the sea breeze.
After Shikotan suffered severe damage from a 1994 earthquake off Hokkaido, there was a positive sentiment among islanders regarding the island becoming Japanese territory, partly against the backdrop of the chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"Many islanders left for the mainland after the 1994 earthquake," a library worker in her 40s living in Shikotan recalls.
"Most of those who remained believed reconstruction was impossible and that the island would be handed over to Japan," she said, adding that rumors spread at the time that Japan would pay $50,000 per person to those who left the island.
"I have nothing but warm feelings toward the Japanese. I have not forgotten Japan's support in the 1990s," she said, but added that the situation has completely changed since.
Shikotan has an area of approximately 250 square kilometers, and accounts for about 5 percent of the total area of the Northern Territories as they are called in Japan or Southern Kurils in Russia.
While the two largest islands of Etorofu and Kunashiri have airports connecting them to Sakhalin and the Russian mainland, Shikotan's only air link is a heliport serving Kunashiri.
By sea, two self-propelled barges provided by Japan in 1998 and 2001 continue to operate as the primary means of transportation to Kunashiri.
A local tour guide in his 60s said that even after visits by Japanese nationals under a visa-free exchange program ceased in 2020, many islanders continue to stay in touch online with Japanese friends they became close to through over 20 years of exchanges.
But he insisted that friendship and the territorial disputes are separate matters. Noting that a constitutional amendment prohibiting the cession of territory took effect in Russia in 2020, "The vast majority of islanders hold a firm stance on the issue of the island's sovereignty," he said.
"They do not consider joint use or joint residence on the island to be possible."
