Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed Thursday the significance of resuming a program for former residents of Russian-held Pacific islands to visit their ancestors’ graves there.
The suspension of the program due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “humanitarian issue and a top priority in Japan-Russia relations,” Takaichi told a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office with seven junior high school students, including great-grandchildren of former residents of the Japanese-claimed islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.
At the meeting, Tota Fujisawa, 13, of the Habomai Gakuen municipal school in Nemuro, Hokkaido, asked the government to “make efforts to allow former islanders and bereaved families to visit the graves by making the resumption of visa-free exchanges a primary target.”
“It’s encouraging that young people are studying this issue with interest,” Takaichi replied.
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