Japan calls the Four Northern Islands, Russia calls the South Kuril Islands, located in the south of the Kuril Islands, Russia actually controls, can Japan get it?
The Kuril Islands, located between the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, are a group of volcanic archipelagos with a length of about 1150 km and a land area of about 10,503.2 square kilometers, consisting of 56 islands and many small rocky reefs.
From an ancient point of view, the Kuril Islands had little strategic value, and with their cold northern location, they could only feed a small number of Ezo for a long time. From a modern perspective, the Kuril Islands are strategic, not only at the junction of the three forces of the United States, Japan and Russia, but also an important gateway for Russia to enter and exit the Pacific. The dispute between Japan and Russia over the four northern islands (South Kuril Islands) began as early as the Qing Dynasty game.
During the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, it invaded the southern part of Sakhalin Island across the Sogaya Strait in a northerly direction, and penetrated into the South Kuril Islands in the northeast direction through the occupation of Gogo, Tooth Dance, Sedan, and The Four Islands of Zega (also known as the "Four Northern Islands"). At this time, Tsarist Russia also made great strides in the Far East, with Russian expeditions advancing from the north to the south in the direction of Sakhalin Island and from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the southwest in the direction of the Kuril Islands. The two major forces collided head-on, creating a situation in which Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands were half-occupied, but it was clear that such a situation could not be sustained for long.
After repeated games, Japan and Russia signed the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855, stipulating that the four islands of Kunigami, Tooth Dance, Sedan, and Zekyu belonged to Japan, and these four islands were called the Four Northern Islands in Japan, and the Tsarist Russia (Russia) was called the South Kuril Islands. Defu Island and the area north of it, Tsarist Russia (Russia), known as the North Kuril Islands, belong to Russia, and the two legally divide the North and South Kuril Islands, which is also the earliest historical basis for Japan's claim for the four northern islands today.
However, the division of Sakhalin Island by the treaty is quite vague, and there is basically no clear line, which makes the differences between the two countries on Sakhalin Island more serious in the future. Despite its covetousness over Sakhalin Island, Japan did not have enough strength to compete with Tsarist Russia, and coupled with the fact that the focus of Japan's aggression at this time was on taiwan and the Korean Peninsula, Meiji Japan advocated abandoning Birch Tai (Sakhalin Island) and turning to hokkaido and the Kuril Islands instead.
In 1875, Japan and Russia signed the Treaty of Exchange between the Thousand Islands of Birch, in which Japan abandoned the southern part of Sakhalin Island, but the entire Kuril Islands were all assigned to Japanese territory, and both sides took what they needed. In 1905, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, and the Japanese army completely occupied Sakhalin Island. At this time Japan had half Sakhalin Island and all of the Kuril Islands, reaching the maximum sphere of influence in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 was seen as an eternal disgrace by the Russians.
In the 40 years from this moment until Japan's defeat and surrender, Russia (the Soviet Union) could not even enter the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Okhotsk without Japan's consent. The blockade of the "gateway" has made it difficult for generations of Russians to sleep, which is why the Soviet Union insisted on fighting for the Kuril Islands at the Yalta Conference.
In November 1941, the Combined Japanese Fleet assembled at Single Crown Bay in the southeast of Zega Island and sneaked into Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leading to the outbreak of the Pacific War.
On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, and the Soviet Union rushed south from the northern tip of the Kuril Islands to occupy all of the Kuril Islands, including the four northern islands (South Kuril Islands). The Soviets regarded the Battle of the Kuril Islands as a "battle to seize the gate", and only by seizing this gateway could the Soviet Navy sit back and relax in and out of the Pacific.
The area of the four northern islands is about 5003.1 square kilometers, of which 3167.7 square kilometers are Selected Island, 1489 square kilometers are Kunigo Island, 250.6 square kilometers are Setan Island, and 91.3 square kilometers are Tooth Dance Islands.
In 1951, 49 countries signed the Peace Treaty with Japan in San Francisco, a peace treaty signed between most members of the Allied Powers of World War II and Japan, which stipulated that Japan would renounce all rights to the Kuril Islands, which may be the most recent black-and-white agreement on the four northern islands. However, although the Soviet Union attended the meeting at that time, it was dissatisfied with the treaty drafted by the United States and Britain, so it did not sign it, which was a major weapon for Japan to fight back.
In 1956, the Soviet Union and Japan signed the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration in Moscow, and the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, but there was no mention of the four northern islands.
Now, more than half a century later, although Japan has demanded sovereignty over the four northern islands (the South Kuril Islands) every day, it is a dream to extract its teeth from Russia's tiger's mouth unless it defeats its opponents in war.
On the current map of our country, the four northern islands (South Kuril Islands) are marked as Japanese territory with the word "Russian occupation" in the note.
Text: Teacher Yan, Picture: Map Ji, welcome to reprint.