The southernmost of the Russian-occupied Kurile islands are so close tc Japan's northeastern tip that when the fog lifts, there they are. They were, indeed, once part of Japan, which gathered its secret attack on Pearl Harbour in the Kuriles' fastness. But in the days after Japan's surrender in 1945. Soviet forces seized the islands. Thanks to the dispute over what Japan calls its Northern Territories, Russia and Japan have never signed a peace treaty ending the second world war.
展开▼
