Japan snubs Russian proposal, says it wants all disputed Kuril islands
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Japan said it wanted Russia to return all four Kuril islands, snubbing Moscow's renewed talk of returning two of them to end the dispute that has prevented the countries from formally ending World War II.
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Japan's foreign minister visits Russia for talks aimed at improving ties damaged by the Kuril Islands dispute.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi viewed the four Kurile Islands, claimed by both Japan and Russia, from on board a Coast Guard boat Thursday.
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Japan insisted on Wednesday that its ties with Washington would not be shaken by a U.S. Congressional resolution urging Tokyo to apologize for forcing women to serve as sex slaves during World War Two.
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Japan has brushed off a North Korean statement saying it would consider sanctions imposed by Tokyo &quot;a declaration of war,&quot; and renewed calls for penalties on the North for failing to account fully for Japanese citizens it abducted decades ago.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has  offered new talks to resolve the fate of four rocky islands  seized from Japan in the closing days of World War Two,  prompting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to consider a  visit to Moscow.
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Japanese officials rushed on Friday to dismiss suggestions that the emperor overstepped his authority and meddled in government affairs by voicing his opposition to Tokyo schools' policy of compulsory patriotism.
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Foreign governments question Russia's stance on Sakhalin's key oil project as officials say they will review the scheme.
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Japan said Thursday that Russia seized four Japanese fishing boats in disputed waters between the two countries, calling the detention unacceptable and demanding an explanation from Moscow.
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Japan tried to reassure Russia about its missile defense ties with the United States on Tuesday, after Moscow expressed opposition to Tokyo's involvement in the system earlier this month.
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Japan needs cluster bombs to protect itself and opposes an international ban on the weapons being discussed in Peru, the defence minister said Friday.
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Japan offered a compromise on Monday to break an impasse over its controversial plan to lift a 20-year moratorium of commercial whale hunting but it was flatly rejected by the other key powers.
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Japan's new prime minister denied on Tuesday that he wants to change the country's pacifist constitution to permit its military to wage war overseas.
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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday rejected a suggestion by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the dispute over the Northern Territories be settled with the return of two of the four islands.
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Russia on Wednesday curtly rejected U.S.  criticism of sweeping political changes proposed by President  Vladimir Putin, telling Washington to stay out of its business.
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Japan protested to Moscow after a Russian military plane intruded into Japanese air space over the Izu Islands south of Tokyo on Saturday, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
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Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sailed to a group of disputed islands, ignoring Russian warnings that his visit would hamper talks on a bilateral peace treaty.