The territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, the so-called “Northern Territories”/ Southern Kuriles problem, is one of the major “unresolved problems” since World War II in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan and the USSR restored diplomatic relations in 1956, but failed to sign a peace treaty because of this territorial problem. Even after the passage of over 60 years after the war, and over 15 years after Japan’s negotiating counterpart changed from the USSR to Russia, the bilateral negotiations are still impassé.