Talk:Kuril Islands

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[edit] Inhabited?

Are these islands currently inhabited?

Of course they are. And can you tell which country owns them? Judging by the article, it's Japan (which is not)
Would be nice to know the actual population of these islands, if someone has it. Maps made in Japan generally just show a few half-drawn roads and a mixture of kanji and Ainu place names. --Heian-794 14:34, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Observations

Some observations:

  • "Japan is economically supporting the people living in the islands. In case Japan would be able to solve the dispute for their benefit there is no clear plan for the destiny of the current inhabitants."
    1. I thought the islands were uninhabited? Is the JP government paying people to live there, or are they economically supported through normal trade? In either case, I think it should be made clear what the author means by "support."--69.212.98.139 17:59, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
    2. I don't think it's important if Japan doesn't have a plan for inhabitants yet when there hasn't even been any indication of potential willingness from the Russians to return the islands.--69.212.98.139 17:59, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
    • Update: Due to the above unanswered questions and the ambiguity of the statement made by 219.5.38.6 (who by the way has only contributed once and seems to have since abandoned it), I am yanking it from the main article. Hope this is OK with everyone. --69.212.100.83 02:26, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • "Russia reclaimed them after the WWII (Treaty of San Francisco), but Japan maintains a claim to the four southernmost islands, called Northern Territories in Japan (see Kuril Island conflict)."
    1. This makes it sound like the USSR got the islands through the treaty when in fact the treaty doesn't give them the rights to the islands. In fact the USSR instead got the islands from Japan during WWII before the treaty even existed through military invasion right after the USSR abolished their existing peace treaty with Japan.--69.212.98.139 17:59, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
    2. It should be noted that the USSR was not a participant in the Treaty of San Francisco, and a peace treaty has never been signed between USSR/Russia and Japan after the War ended.--69.212.98.139 02:29, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • "クリル列島" isn't really a Japanese name but a Russian/Ainu name written in Japanese writing system, so it's kind of redundant.--69.212.98.139 17:59, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Infobox

I want to add the infobox saying about the Russian and Japanese names from the article, for the sake of organization, like Liancourt Rocks and Sakhalin. Please post objections here. Mr Tan 09:09, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Time Immortal?

"The islands were inhabited by the Ainu from time immemorial" This is in no way accurate. Time immortial? What the hell?

Time immemorial means time outside of memory, or for longer than we can remember. Not forever.

[edit] Proposed Merger

See Talk:Kuril Islands dispute, one of the options proposed is merger with this article Nik42 04:19, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Comment out

Why was the translation of Chishima Rettō commented out? I've restored it Nik42 03:52, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Merge tag

I added a merge tag to this and to Japanese administration of the Kuril Islands. Much of the info is redundant, but there is some additional info on the other page. I'll let someone else with more knowledge about the subject judge how accurate it is, and what should be kept or discarded. --Nobunaga24 02:29, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

I think there is valuable information that can be moved to the main Kuril Islands article, but merging would make it seem like the islands belong to Japan, not Russia. It already reads too Japanese. The Kuril Islands are under Russian control. They are Russian islands and no Japanese (in any significant numbers) live there any more.--Sir Edgar 02:36, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
Now that someone actually went ahead and merged the two articles it all sounds really weird. Is everyone sure "Japanese administration" should be part of the general article? I started copy editing the History section but then had second thoughts. Shouldn't we discuss the changes here first? --16:26, 29 November 2006 (UTC) EDIT: Sorry, forgot to sign. BTW, here's a link with some historical info we could use in rewriting the article% http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Khabarovsk.html#Sakh --apoivre 17:21, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] TfD nomination of Template:Disputed islands claimed by Japan

Template:Disputed islands claimed by Japan has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. --Endroit 17:40, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Change in Emphasis

I added quite a bit of content on the geography and marine and terrestrial ecology of the Kuril islands. I've placed these sections ahead of all the material on 19th century Japanese Administration and World War II history because I personally feel that it is more important. As an ecologist who works on the Kuril islands, I am certainly biased. On the other hand, I think there really is a consensus among the people that live and work on and around the Kurils that their greatest `value' of the islands lies in their tremendous biological richness and on their priviledged isolation from anthropogenic impacts.

In fact, I would move to take the World War II history into a completely separate article. The article on Hawaii, as an example, hardly mentions World War II, even though it's significance was far greater. The detailed section on Japanese Administration is also a bit of an aberration, considering that there is virtually no comment on the current, active, existing, present Russian administration.

On a similar note, why is the Kuril island article part of Wikiproject Japan and NOT Wikiproject Russia? Is California part of Wikiproject Mexico?

Finally, the human history on the Kuril islands does not begin with the Edo period. There is an enormous omission of the Ainu presence on the islands, the Jomon presence before that, and possibly earlier people. It would be great if someone knowlegeable about the prehistory could contribute!

If other people feel otherwise about any of these points, please do share. Eliezg 08:13, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the good work, Eliezg. Unfortunately, this article sees too little attention from anyone not trying to use Wikipedia to vindicate Japan's territorial claims to its neighbours. As to your questions, the World War II subsection and the one on Japanese Administration used to be separate articles until someone merged them into this one without consulting anyone first. I don't want to start an edit war so I invite everyone to discuss everything here before making any drastic edits on the matter our Japanese friends feel so passionate about. Could we make it a vote? Mine would be separate articles --apoivre 23:03, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moved from redirect page

The following was moved from the talk page of a redirect to here:

Note: There is a huge question mark as to how far the Matsumae clan really controlled the Kuril islands. When the clan established itself in Hokkaido during the Edo period, it did not even control the whole that island, and left most of it to the Ainu. I think there is a difference between "control of the Kurils" and "we've heard there are more islands to the north, and if anybody asks, they're ours". -- Mkill 20:13, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

I have added "nominal" to the description of the administration. I agree completely - as far as I am aware, the Matsumae had little control over Ezo at all, only rarely venturing north of the Oshima Peninsula, but claiming all of that land and the Kurils as well purely on the basis of it being within a sort of Japanese frontier sphere of influence. Not entirely different from Satsuma's claims to have had Okinawa & the Ryukyus within its sphere for centuries earlier, or China's claims to Korea, Tibet, and other areas. LordAmeth 19:18, 11 July 2007 (UTC)