The Health and Welfare Ministry next month will survey Japanese still living on Sakhalin since being detained there by the Soviet Union after World War II to determine how many of them want to relocate to Japan permanently.

From Dec. 4 to 11, two ministry officials will interview the Japanese residents to examine their living conditions to determine who may want to live in Japan.

The survey, the second of its kind by the Japanese government, will target about 250 people living in cities on southern Sakhalin and in neighboring areas.

After being released from Soviet labor camps, many Japanese decided to remain in the region after marrying local people or to care for relatives.

According to the ministry, Japanese detained in Soviet-era labor camps who were still living in Russia as of April numbered about 520. About 450 are on Sakhalin.

An increasing number of such Japanese have returned to Japan permanently in recent years, the officials said.

Since 1989, 117 from 40 households made the move. Those making temporary visits numbered about 1,400 people from 1,000 households.

In the government's first such survey in 1990, only 10 of 107 Japanese interviewed said they wanted to go back to Japan permanently.

The number was about 10 percent of those who expressed the desire to make short visits.

Ministry officials said they will use the data from the upcoming survey in formulating measures to support these people's future resettlement in Japan.

Since Russia's economic climate has deteriorated since the last survey, more Japanese than in the 1990 survey are expected to express hopes to live in Japan permanently, they added.