{"id":91960,"date":"2017-03-01T20:16:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T01:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=91960"},"modified":"2017-03-01T20:16:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T01:16:39","slug":"japan-seeks-to-launch-charter-flights-to-kuril-islands-ahead-of-abes-visit-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/01\/japan-seeks-to-launch-charter-flights-to-kuril-islands-ahead-of-abes-visit-to-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan seeks to launch charter flights to Kuril Islands ahead of Abe\u2019s visit to Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_87154\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-87154\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/abe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-87154\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/abe.jpg\" alt=\"The Japanese government is in the final stages of preparations for the country\u2019s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s visit to Russia due in late April. (Photo by Kremlin.ru [CC BY 4.0)\" width=\"800\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/abe.jpg 800w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/abe-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/abe-768x474.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-87154\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Japanese government is in the final stages of preparations for the country\u2019s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s visit to Russia due in late April. (Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AShinz%C5%8D_Abe_(2016-11-20).jpg\">Kremlin.ru [CC BY 4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>TOKYO\u2014The Japanese government is in the final stages of preparations for the country\u2019s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s visit to Russia due in late April.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Yomiuri daily, ahead of the visit, Japan seeks to launch charter flights between its northern Hokkaido Island and Russia\u2019s South Kuril Islands.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, Tokyo plans to expand the visa-free travel possibilities for the former residents of the islands who travel there to visit their ancestors\u2019 graves. One option under consideration is that air service would connect the Nakashibetsu airport located near the Nemuro city on Hokkaido Island and the Mendeleyevo and Yasnoye airfields on Russia\u2019s Kunashir and Iturup islands.<\/p>\n<p>At present, former Japanese residents of South Kuril Islands, their family members, representatives of public organizations and reporters can travel there without obtaining visas, using the Etopirika motor ship. However, all of them have to undergo specific procedures at the port of Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashir Island from where they can take ships to Iturup, Shikotan and Habomai islands.<\/p>\n<p>As Japanese government said earlier, an exact date of Abe\u2019s upcoming visit to Russia is currently under consideration. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that the visit could take place in April or May. On March 18, the first round of consultations on joint economic activities on South Kuril Islands will be held in Tokyo involving deputy foreign ministers of the two countries. On March 20, the Japanese capital will host a &#8220;two plus two&#8221; meeting between foreign and defense ministers.<\/p>\n<p>During Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s visit to Japan, which took place on December 15-16, 2016, a joint statement was adopted saying that &#8220;consultations on joint economic activities of Russia and Japan on South Kuril Islands may become an important step to reaching a peace treaty.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TOKYO\u2014The Japanese government is in the final stages of preparations for the country\u2019s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u2019s visit to Russia &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":87154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,16,17],"tags":[5732],"class_list":["post-91960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news","category-news-w","tag-shinzo-abe","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}