The Kurils are known as the Northern Territories in Japan..

The Kuril Islands, are a chain of islands in the Russian Far East, located directly to the north of Hokkaido, Japan, east of Sakhalin and southwest of Kamchatka. The total land area is 10,503.2 square kilometres (4,055.3 sq mi), and the total population is 19,434.

In 1956, the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration restored diplomatic ties between the two nations, but a formal peace deal remained out of reach because of the territorial dispute.

50-56).

A large earthquake was reported Tuesday evening near the Kuril Islands in the north Pacific, the U. S. Geological Survey said.

Kuril Trench, deep submarine depression in the western Pacific Ocean, situated on the east side of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido island, Japan.

In 1855, Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Shimoda, which gave Japan ownership of the four southern islands and Russia ownership of everything to the north.

(see "The Kuril Islands", John J Stephan, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1974, pp.

Earthquakes and tidal waves are common; the

It extends from the Kuril Islands to the Bonin Islands and is 9,000 m (30,000 ft) at its deepest.

Vladimir Putin indicated in 2004 that the offer of a return of the two southernmost islands was still on the table, but showed no signs of relinquishing the two larger islands.

"It was hoped that the proceeds from the ongoing projects would help to alleviate the high level of poverty in the region".

Workers in the Kitovy Bay built the breakwater, as barges are the important mode of the transport in this area.

When it comes to the Kuril Islands, people usually tend to imply the disputed southernmost islands of Shikotan, Kunashir and Iturup, which became wide known due to the dispute between Japan and Russia.

The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are thought to have offshore reserves of oil and gas. But the Kuril Islands are the huge archipelago stretching approximately 1,200 kilometres, and there are some rather interesting, but less well-known islands that were the destination … The summit of a partially submerged volcano forms the outline of Kraternaya Bay, Yankich Island, in the Kuril Islands of Russia.This article was most recently revised and updated by North Kurile Islands, Russia.

Rare rhenium deposits have been found on the Kudriavy volcano on Iturup.

Relative to a fixed North America plate, the Pacific plate is moving northwest at a rate that increases from 79 mm/yr near the northern end of the arc to 83 mm/yr adjacent to Hokkaido.

The Kuril Islands are located in the cold waters of the North-western Pacific Ocean between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido. In 2014, construction workers built a pier and a breakwater in Kitovy Bay, central Iturup, where barges are a major means of transport, sailing between the cove and ships anchored offshore.

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; The islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. The fishes like Pacific cod, flatfish, Walleye Pollock, and Japanese Sardines, aquatic mammals such as Both the Japanese and Russian sides are increasingly deviating from their past acceptance of peace treaties, especially since the installation of missiles by Russia on the Kuril Islands.

The Kuril Islands is a chain of islands that stretch between the Japanese island of Hokkaido at the southern end and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula at the northern end.

Image caption The islands lie off Japan's northern-most island of Hokkaido .

This subduction is responsible for the generation of the Kuril Islands chain, volcanoes along the entire arc, and the deep Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. The most visible sign of improvement is the new construction in infrastructure. Negotiations with Russia to resolve the issue continued throughout the 1990s and into the…

Before further treaties are negotiated, each wants territorial disputes regarding the division of the islands to be resolved first.

Communities developed on three of the islands and by the time World War II began, there were 17,000 Japanese residents. Under the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed between the Allies and Japan, Japan renounced "all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands", as well as over other possessions.But this resolved nothing, because Russia did not sign the treaty and the Japanese government has never recognised the four islands as part of the Kuril chain.

There are 56 islands and many minor rocks.

Russia took control of the islands at the end of the war, and by 1949 it had deported all residents to Japan. It lies along the ring of tectonic instability that encircles the Pacific Ocean, and is known as the Ring of Fire.

The archipelago extends for 750 miles (1,200 km) from the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) to the northeastern corner of Hokkaido island (Japan) and separates the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean.

Kuril Islands.

It consists of the Greater Kuril Chain and the Lesser Kuril Chain.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government has worked to maintain public awareness of the dispute.