A nonpartisan group of Diet lawmakers met Tuesday to mark the establishment of a parliamentary league seeking the speedy return of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido and more contact with their residents.
The first parliamentarians' group to focus on the territorial dispute with Russia, it is made up of 90 members from both chambers of the Diet, drawn chiefly from the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan.
The group selected Hiroshi Oki, former environment minister from the LDP, as its chief and named as advisers former Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata of the DPJ and former Construction Minister Masaaki Nakayama of the LDP.
The lawmakers said they will collaborate with government officials and activists seeking reversion of the islands, which were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II.
The group will also promote humanitarian aid and other assistance for people living on Kunashiri, Etorofu and Shikotan islands and the Habomai islets.
Together they are known in Japan as the Northern Territories. Russia refers to them as the Southern Kurils.
The territorial row has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty to end World War II hostilities.
The lawmakers hope to push forward bilateral talks on the issue. The negotiations have been marred by a series of bribery scandals linked to Muneo Suzuki, a lawmaker alleged to have wielded undue influence on Russia-Japan relations. Suzuki is now on trial for bribery.
The bilateral discussions lost steam after Suzuki's fall from grace left government officials and politicians alike wishing to to distance themselves from the matter.
Some have even begun questioning the viability of extending humanitarian aid to the islands, and the parliamentary group hopes to breathe new life into the issue.