TOKYO, November 11. /TASS/. Tokyo favors the development of relations with Russia on a wide range of areas, including politics, economy, and culture, Japan’s new foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told the first press conference after his appointment to the post.
"There have been no changes in the fact that we attach great importance to the relationship with Russia. I believe that we should wholly develop the Japanese-Russian relations in a wide range of areas, including in the political field, particularly the peace treaty signing, economy, culture, for the benefit of our national interests," he said on Thursday.
For decades, Moscow and Tokyo have been holding consultations in order to hammer out a peace treaty in the aftermath of World War II. The southern Kuril Islands issue remains the key sticking point. In 1945, the whole archipelago was handed over to the Soviet Union. Tokyo laid claims to Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of uninhabited islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that Moscow’s sovereignty over the islands is enshrined in international law and cannot be called into question.