OSAKA -- Four Japanese fishermen returned to Japan on Tuesday from Russia, where they were released last week by Russian authorities after being charged with fishing without a permit in Russian economic waters.
Hiroshi Takekawa, 32, and three other crew members of the Miyajima Maru No. 28 arrived at Osaka's Kansai International Airport.
A court in Nakhodka in Russia's Far East on Friday ordered the boat's captain, Hayashi Miyashita, to pay a fine of 1.145 million rubles (4.5 million yen) and ordered the boat confiscated.
All seven of the boat's crew members were released after the ruling.
Miyashita, 58, chief engineer Masaichi Higashikaze, 58, and cook Mamoru Kushima, 55, stayed in Nakhodka to appeal the ruling and look after the ship.
The vessel, from the town of Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture, was seized July 27 by Russian authorities about 390 km northwest of Ishikawa's Cape Rokkozaki. The ship and its crew were then taken to Nakhodka.