The Kuril Islands

Kuril Islands 1

Russia borders Japan at it’s far east end, but a few know that those two countries don’t have a peace treaty signed for already 60 years since the World War II has ended.

The reason for that a group of volcanic islands located North from Japan and called Kuril islands. Those territories were recaptured by Russian army at the end of WW2 and now are under Russian administration, though Japan considers them their own lost territories.

There were a lot of offers from Japan in order to return the islands. During the 1990s, when the Soviet government resigned and the new Russian authorities have been forming Japan offered billions dollars for those territories hoping to get the islands back, but patriotic motive was stronger that the profit one.

Those islands could be vital for Japan, which is suffering from over-population. Its lands are tens or even hundreds time more densely populated than the nearby lying Kuril islands, which stay almost untouched by civilization. Well, it’s hard to say what would be better - to let people live and destroy nature or to preserve nature at its virgin state but deprive hundreds thousands of people from the land.

Below are some photos from those lands in question.




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    6:31 pm


    72 Responses to “The Kuril Islands”

    1. Please, my Russian friends, keep these islands!! The Japanese will just build another high-tech automotive factory, some nice houses, a shopping mall, a Disney Park, a bunch of sushi bars, a Manga publishing and distribution center, and a geisha house!! Who needs such things?!

      Watch out for the Japanese peoples, as they like to dominate all the time. Just try having sex with one of them–always wanting the higher-up position, forcing your head down, slapping and yelling, “Hai! Hai! Hai!” until the moment of satisfaction, then sighing with contentment like they had just cut off their enemy’s head with a samurai sword, then tossing you off to the side like a severed head tossed into a bamboo basket.

      Sorry.

      Anyway–Yours in resistance to Japanese dominance,
      M. Ahmadinejad

    2. adios says:

      ничё фотки,но я видел в сети покруче.иногда лажу по инету смотрю фотки Сахалина,Камчатки и Курил.на некоторых островах даже остались танки и обломки американских самолётов.

      • Miss India says:

        why oh why Russians always have border conflicts with all of its neighbours from lapland to baltic and to blacksea, thorughout central asia to china to mongolia to korea to japan? Such an unruly neihgbour I am not surprised everyone hates them :(

        • Free says:

          Everyone hates americans. Are you surprised?

          • I love Americans! They are going to turn my brothers loose from Guantanamo!

            I can’t wait to get them back and debrief them and learn all the American interrogation techniques, so I can train my other operatives in how to resist if they are captured.

            Thank God Americans don’t just shoot everyone on the battlefield. What a waste of my operatives that would be. Think how many new people I would have to train!

            Thanking America for seeing things my way on Guantanamo (next is Israel!!),
            M. Ahmadinejad

        • truth says:

          shows Russia as a great nation miss india.

          • Great nation? Shows they are a bunch of expansionist retards, eventually Russia will be overrun since their only good when it comes to making enemies. Their skill is shitting all over where they live, just look at the Kurils and its the same here. Compare that to Japan, can’t get much cleaner and stylish than Japan…completely the opposite to Russia.

    3. Matthew says:

      Give it back you thieving Russian barstages!

    4. Para bellum says:

      Иди на хуй долбоеб, мы никому ничего недолжны!

    5. Para bellum says:

      Иди на хуй долбоеб, мы никому ничего недолжны возвращать!

    6. Matu says:

      Why to use word “recaptured”, use true word - conquered. Conquered and kept without any reason. US has returned even Okinawa to Japanise authorities, except small areas of military bases. On first two pictures you can see building which is clearly with Japanise origin. Houses on later pictures are only cabins or scheelings, small, old and ruined. Japan is also very mountainous country and has much unused land in mountains. If they could get Kurils, they surely will use them mostly for recreation and preserve nature.

      • lala says:

        Tough luck. Don’t go starting wars and maybe you won’t lose your islands.

        They look sparsely populated and they are on a border with Russia. A much different situation the Okinawa.

      • I can’t agree with you. These islands are surrounded with nice 200 miles of privileged economical zone of sea that are full of fish and they provide nice 30-miles of national waters that means that our ships may go from sea to the ocean and back with comfort and without asking any permissions from any neighbour countries.

        On pictures from Moscow Kremlin you can see buildings which are clearly with Portuguese origin, and the Kremlin itself is a typical Florence style fort. Who cares?

        • Elkman says:

          Absolutely agree with you. Japanese don’t need the islands, but their main target is exactly the aquatory adjacent to them, which is full of fish and crabs and gives open corridor to the ocean.

      • zax says:

        Recaptured is the correct word. These islands were part of the Russian Empire until 1904-1905 Russian-Japanese war, when Japan conquered them (both with a half of Sakhalin and Manchuria (Manchuria was at that time leased to Russians by the Chinese Empire)). In 1945, USSR took the Kuril Islands and the whole Sakhalin back, and liberated Manchuria and returned it to China (though, it was a 85-years lease treaty, and they could have kept it if they wanted).

        So, I really do not see on what legal basis Japan requests that islands.

        And there is one interesting thing about these islands, not related to politics: There is still a quite large Ainu community there. Ainu are white people who once inhabited all of Japan, until the yellow race came from the Asian mainland. They are almost extinct in Japan (or, if you will, assimilated during the centuries). It would be a great loss for mankind that these interesting people, and their even more interesting language (not related to any of other world’s languages) vanish from the face of the Earth. Of course, nobody would kill them, but in highly industrialized society, they would be assimilated very fast.

        • Chris says:

          >And there is one interesting thing about these islands, not
          >related to politics: There is still a quite large Ainu
          >community there.

          Ah yes, the Hairy Ainus. Quite intriguing people.

        • hardscarf says:

          The Ainu were there first, but the Russians and Japanese didn’t see them as the true owners and both treated them bad. Before Kazan was conquered by the Russians on the Tatars in 1552 the Ainu probably lived on the Kurils for over a few thousand years.

        • Brian says:

          Odd you would mention the Ainu.The former USSR deported the population (including the Ainu) of the Kuril islands apaun their occupation in 1945.It also looks like the islands are being kept pristine in so much as the rusted debri of past glory has not choked the waterways or soiled the lands in ruins or wrecked cars.I am also confused as to why you state Japan has no legal right regarding the islands.As you allready mentioned they claimed the islands apaun kicking the hell out of the Russians in the 1904-1905 war.It seems they are trying to buy them back not stomp your ass this time.Of course in the future they will most likely just humilate the crap out of your military as they have done in the past.Take the islands and deport whatever slavic peoples are inhabiting the place.Then in time you will return the favor,and so on….

        • You Moron. says:

          The Ainu are not white. What’s with your ‘white nationalist’, revisionist ethnographic propaganda?

          The Ainu are of Pacific Islander stock who have been isolated for millenia in the Pacific North East. Just as Northern Europeans evolved from olive skinned, brown eyed people from the Near East during pre-historic times but turned pale and blue-eyed as a response to the environmental pressures of Northern Europe (lighter skin enhances Vitamin D absorption, which could not be produced by the body in the weak northern sunlight) - the Ainu evolved from the aboriginal islanders you see in the mountains of Taiwan. The ‘malay’ race and Filipinos are also offshoots of these aboriginal pacific islanders, as are the Maori of New Zealand.

          Seriously, check your facts before you go around spewing misinformed, border-line white supremacist bullshit.

          • You Moron. says:

            I was responding to ‘zax’ in the above comment, btw.

            To clarify further, to suggest that a race of “white”/European people magically teleported themselves 5000-plus miles from the native Europe to be transplanted in the FAR, far East is a stretch at best, and an exercise in mental masturbation at worst.

            There were no practical methods of long-distance transportation in those prehistoric times as humans were limited to ‘coast-hopping’ in crudely made vessels (perhaps hollowed out logs or flimsy boats made of reeds, which are definitely not open sea-worthy).

            If you suggest that they ‘coast-hopped’ all the way to Asia by the way of 16th century Portuguese galleons (down the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope and past India), they would have surely stopped at numerous places and left traces of their culture (camp sites, etc.) - and yet there is no tell-tale ‘trail’ of archaeological evidence to support this ‘Paleo-European-Ainu Migration Theory’.

            There simply is no concrete or rational evidence to support this crackpot theory that the Ainu are “white”.

            It is based on amateurish conjecture based on coincidential physiological similarities between Ainu and Europeans, such as deep-set eyes, a tall nose (contrary to rumors Ainu had relatively tall nose bridges but also wide, flaring nostrils, which is dissimilar to narrower European noses), and sometimes light skin (which was an adaptation to North Asian climes, which have relatively poor sunlight, much like Northern Europe - and furthermore, plenty of Ainu are rather swarthy).

    7. Russian_NYC says:

      Very beautiful nature pics.
      That’s about it. Anything russians touch turns to shit!

      Give these islands back to the Japs - so they can actually develop them! Damn vodka-slurping aborigines.

      • andy says:

        you fuck. yes, they’re beautiful. you want to develop them and make them look like a Shibuya intersection?
        you hypocrite. what a cute puppy, let’s kill it, right?

    8. Bilosh says:

      Such beutiful chickens in foto #20! I desire to someday be owning the goats and the chickens. :)

    9. Hahahaha, we wont give it back, we love to steal land :D

    10. Jason says:

      In the 18th picture down looks like an american truck.What make and model is it?

    11. Japan… overpopulated ?

      You’ve never been there don’t you ?

      Yeah Tokyo/Nagoya?Osaka are crowded sh1tholes. But drive 20 minutes and you are lost in the middle of the jungle with little village dwelle by racists inbreds.

      And this is for the main Island. In Hokkaido the main population are cows, not humans. I’m not even sure they already heard about indoor plumbing upthere…

      It’s not because Ginza is expensive as hell and so full of prostitutes/w4nker posing as yakusa because they saw it on tv and found it looked cool that you can’t see the floor that you can say the country is overpopulated.

      1 numeral example: Nagoya, same population as Paris… but with 4 times the size.

      • acdc says:

        It’s not because Ginza is expensive as hell and so full of prostitutes/w4nker posing”

        Yes, it is full of young Russian prostitutes. Asshole, by driving 20 minutes out of Tokyo/Osaka you will still see urban sprawl and NO “jungle” as you describe - guess you never been there. Even remote Japanese village will be more cleaner and comfortable than any of your stinking Russian Metropolis.

    12. Never give it back, they’d fuckin ruin it.

    13. smallswede says:

      Very nice pictures! THANKS!!! :-)

    14. Rodriguez says:

      Мисс индия, чмо, как всегда.
      А курилы - наши, и, как было верно замечено выше, идите на хуй!!!

    15. Top photograph is the Central Museum in Yuzhno-Sakhalink, Sakhalin Island.

      This is NOT JAPAN, it is RUSSIA…….

      Lets keep it that way. And the Kuriles.

      Thank you.

    16. Alex says:

      I believe, the Japanese looking building on 1st two pics is actually on Sakhalin island. Pretty, though rough places pictured, thanx.

    17. max says:

      keep the jap rats of this land… they will concrete it and eat all the wildlife………

    18. viperman says:

      Looks like the Russians actaully didn’t develope this land yet - are we talking environmentists now? Wait till they discover oil there then we all wish Japs would take back this land.
      Then the whole place will be filled with empty beer bottles and vodka bottles for everyone to step on - dumb asses!! What the hell is wrong with you people???? Ever heard of a trash can??? How much effort does it take to dispose of your bottles in a trash container??
      For heaven’s sake put toilet paper in the bathrooms you retards!!!
      Oh yes, a toilet seat would be nice too!!!
      Russians will gain some respect when a American who visits their country can sit his ass down on a toilet seat and shit while reading the newspaper and then actually wipe his ass with toilet paper that is there and not stolen. Not that sandy paper you use either - give us Charmin!!!!
      Lastly - Russian girls are awesome!!!!
      I know!!!!! I got me one!!!!!!

    19. 4ert says:

      Пиздюляторов вам, а не Курилы , косоглазые чурки (С)

    20. jcp says:

      Truck looks like GMC pickup, but hard to tell.

      Islands belong to Japan. Treaty of San Francisco says so but US told Japan not to press issue at the beginning of cold war so free world alliance could focus on matters more important to US.
      Stalin took other lands from Japan but these are the only ones Japan still claims because they have long history on the islands and have a good legal argument for their claim. I believe 20,000 Japanese were relocated after war when Stalin stole this land.

      The main argument is not so much oil, gas, or fish since Japan has made it’s claim even before these resources had any value (before the economic zones were extended) but certainly that has given the Russian dogs more reason to cling to their stolen property. Like an illiterate beggar in the gutter clutching a stolen book that it can not read.

    21. Pacific NW says:

      “Russians will gain some respect when a American who visits their country can sit his ass down on a toilet seat and shit while ” - Polls show that most Americans aren’t scummy enough to actually let their ass touch the seat. In fact, most Americans don’t shit in public places, and the ones that need to read a newspaper while taking a shit, dude, you’re a total douche, “viperman”, haha.

    22. ProudMan says:

      Эге-гей, пендоссы!! Приезжайте к нам (шучу шучу, не нужны вы нам, дерьможуи), берите тачку на прокат и пездуйте по М-7 через всю страну! Недельное, повторяю - НЕДЕЛЬНОЕ(!) путешествие, смена 11 часовых поясов, всевозможные плато, горы, плоскогорья, общение с нашими гаишниками и дальнобойщиками да в конце концов пострясающая природа!!!

    23. dog says:

      КУРИЛЫ будут пренадлежать РОССИИ!!!
      Я видел секретные карты министерства обороны России-на ней нет Америки…

    24. Jacob says:

      This piece of real estate is too beautiful to give away without fighting a real war. Russians should keep it.

    25. El_Greco says:

      Thats Russian soil
      Respect to the Russians

      • Brian says:

        For now until the Japanese buy it from you because you are so desperate for the cash you would sell your mother to a slaughter house.That or the Japanese just wipe the floor with your military and take it.

        • Kirov says:

          Sorry to disapoint you, shithead, but if any military, Japanese or American tires something, they will be slaughtered :). Kuril Islands ARE RUSSIAN. Deal with it.

    26. alibi says:

      The Russians didn’t steal it. They took it. See the difference? And they also took some of the Germans’ land.
      So - if you want to kep your land intact - do not go to war with Russia. Simple like that.

    27. authorized1 says:

      Не дадим лупогоазым оккупантам топтать землю наших дедов!
      КУРИЛЫ - ИСКОННО ЯПОНСКАЯ ЗЕМЛЯ!!!

    28. ter ee says:

      russians get up in the ass all the time, everywhere - funny animals those russians :D

    29. sunrise says:

      give us back god damn island

    30. Finn says:

      Every country has its own propaganda history. I wonder that what made the difference between Soviet states gained indepence (Latvia, Estonia…) and them that not gained indepence? (Chechen Republic)

    31. jun says:

      The Japanese are interested in “buying” the islands perhaps there could be lots of whales and dolphins along the seas of the Kurile Islands. The Japanese love to eat these animals.

    32. Ambitious says:

      I don’t understand why Russia won’t return the islands. For crying out loud Japan is willing to pay billions of dollars for the return of just 4 islands that historically belonged to them before the Russo-Japanese War. I mean, if Russia sold America the whole of Alaska for like a few cents an acre, then surely I don’t see what Russia has to lose in such a deal here.

      Also, Russia BROKE THE NEUTRALITY PACT IT HAD WITH JAPAN back in 1945. Hmm, sounds very familiar to Hitler’s plan eh to invade Russia eh? They invaded Japan in the closing days of World War II when it was already obvious that Japan was going to lose soon. So it’s not recapturing land or liberating or any of that bullshit the Russians claim the right to own them. They clearly stole ethnic Japanese land PERIOD. So while the Russians keep the islands, they can’t claim that the islands rightfully belong to them because they don’t.

      And although Russia is a respectable country now, I really regret their sheer thickness of their skulls that they still govern land that does not rightfully belong to them and I won’t mention the OTHER lands that they still claim to own. Even after they were offered billions of dollars in good will from Japan for the islands, they refuse to return them. I hope that Russia will come to its senses someday and return what is not theirs.

    33. Smokes says:

      Looks like a piece of paradise.

    34. vanapeer says:

      First photo is from Sahalin (local museum), others from island Shikotan.

    35. Sora-kun says:

      Those islands are too beautiful. Hopefully there won’t be a conflict over those pieces of land. Why don’t they just divide the island chain, give a half to the Russians then the other one to the Japanese… it’s easier that way.

    36. vodkins says:

      When Japs first came to these islands there already were russian settlements. Even japan historics accept this fact. We have these islands from 16-17th century. Japs captured them in 19th century. So we just returned them.

    37. rik says:

      Hi , Americans are self exported europeans , run away Dutch ,French,germans,,and yep even Belgians :-)Now they speak some kind of Englisch , lets face it they stole the land from the people who wore there in the first place,,beying the Kuril islands with dollars they keep on printing like the nazi’s did is verry smart , to me it sounds like dumping s”t money you think the russians are that stupid ??,,,stop gulping gas ,grow up and face bancrupci like an aduld , first helping out the russians in afganistan now the s”t is on your lips ,,and all that for a pipeline ?? Read your own history, back off and keep your face donw for some years ,chame on you remember vietnam !!
      Always using the f words says all
      grtz rik

    38. Arturo says:

      Don´t give them back. In the world, militarily speaking, there are only 3 countries: USA, Russia, China. And one of them is CRAZY building bases all over the world (including Africa, of all places!) Menacing everyone with “You´re with me or against me” rhetoric..invading everyone they wish…The thing is: If Russia gives them back, in a year or two, there gonna be US Army bases in the Kuril islands..thus completing the encirclement of Russia. So don´t give them back.

    39. Anton says:

      The Japanese palace of first photos is situated in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on Sakhalin, not in Kurils.
      The islands of Small Kurils + Kunasir and Iturup are too small to solve overpopulation problem. Japan needs them for their rich aquatory.
      By the way, these islands historically belonged to Russia till 1855, when Japan occupied them.
      To Japans: vae victis!

    40. Vitaly says:

      Another great facet of beautiful russian nature variety! The Kuril islands always will be russian, Japan never will get them!

    41. SalaKrestu says:

      What are you talking about, what didn’t you say and what did you win? I didn’t even know this was a prize-winning-game! But since you won, and are eager for your reward, here’s your prize: take this dick and suck it up! Who’s the kid again?

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