TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st December, 2019) Former residents of what Japan calls its "occupied northern territories" rallied in Tokyo on Sunday to demand that Russia give back the four disputed islands it calls Southern Kurils, media reported.
Hundreds gathered in a park to mark the day when a mayor from Japan's northernmost Hokkaido island petitioned for the handover of the islets shortly after WWII ended, the NHK broadcaster said.
The Japanese outlet cited a former settler, Hirotoshi Kawata, who said that island residents were getting old and a solution needed to be found fast.
The contested islands - known as Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and the Habomai in Russia � are located off the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
Russia took over the islands in 1945 and Japanese rallies have been staged annually. Russia offered in a 1965 joint declaration with Japan to give two islands back but Tokyo never gave up hope to get all four. This has stopped the two from signing a peace pact.
