Japanese former residents make 1st trip by air to Russian-held isles

Japanese former residents of a group of Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido flew to two of the disputed isles Saturday to visit their ancestors' graves, in the first such air trip negotiated during a decades-long territorial spat.The group was able to visit the graves in the islands of Kunashiri and Etorofu on Saturday as planned, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The former residents were scheduled to return to Japan later in the day, but are expected to do so Sunday due to bad weather.As a chartered plane departing Etorofu could not land in Kunashiri, it arrived in Yuzhno-Sa…READ FULL ARTICLE