Ex-residents of Japan-claimed isles hold memorial at sea
The event, held Sunday, was the first among the seven such functions set to take place between July and August.
Former residents of the islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the Kuril Islands in Russia, cannot return to their hometowns because exchange programs between the two countries have been suspended due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On Sunday, 46 people, including former islanders and their families, participated. A memorial ceremony took place around 2 p.m. aboard the exchange ship Etopirika, which arrived off Kunashiri, part of the Northern Territories.
Yuzo Matsumoto, 84, from Etorofu, also among the Japanese-claimed islands, expressed his deep disappointment at being unable to visit the Northern Territories.
Matsumoto, head of a group for former residents of the Chishima and Habomai islands, called for an early restart of a program allowing former residents to visit their ancestors' graves on the islands.
Hideo Fukuzawa, 85, from the Habomai Islands, attended the event with his two grandchildren and said, "I think they've come to think more realistically about the islands."
The disputed islands, located off Hokkaido, were seized from Japan by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II.
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