JAPAN-RUSSIA-DIPLOMACY-KURIL

TO GO WITH AFP STORY „Russia-Japan-diplomacy-Kuril-economy,FEATURE” by Shingo Ito
Children play with their bicycles after school at Kurilisk on Iturup island, the biggest of Russia’s four disputed islands claimed by Japan, 11 August 2007. Russia’s economic boom has spread to its Far East islands claimed by Japan, leading islanders to turn their backs on Tokyo’s trump card of financial aid in a deadlocked territorial row, 14 September 2007. „Of course I feel our economy is picking up,” said Roman Kazachikov, a 27-year-old bus driver in Iturup, or Etorofu, the biggest of the four disputed Kuril islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories. AFP PHOTO / Shingo ITO