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NEMURO, Hokkaido--A lighthouse on Kaigarajima island, part of the disputed Northern Territories, has been lit for the first time in about nine years, the Japan Coast Guard confirmed on Aug. 26.
Four islands off the chilly northern coast of Japan were seized by Russia at the end of the World War II. Local fisherman still risk capture and death every day.
Chinese President Xi Jinping did not support Japan's claim over the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido in his talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last month, according to a Chinese source familiar with the matter, ditching a long-held stance of recognizing them as Tokyo's.
Tokyo has switched to a hard-line stance in its decades-long territorial dispute with Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stating in its annual foreign policy report released on April 22 that four northern islands are "illegally occupied" by Russia.
Japan starts new year amid pandemic People across Japan have celebrated the New Year amid reinforced measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Many gathered at Cape Nosappu in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido to watch the first sunrise of the year. A man said, "The sunrise doesn't change every year, no matter what happens in the world." The pandemic put the brakes on the tradition of visiting a shrine overnight on New Year's Eve. Meiji Shrine, in Tokyo, opened its gates at 6 a.m. Masked worshippers were seen keeping a meter apart from one another to toss coins into a giant offering bo...