We left JAPAN-now in the Kurile Islands

Where are we spending my 67th birthday? At sea! But is it in Russian or in Japanese territory? We are in the Kurile Islands. These islands are in dispute (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, & Habomai) between Russia and Japan.

We left Hokkaido, Japan last night (and then did a short 6 hour roundtrip back due to a passenger emergency). We are now sailing for the next FIVE days and will be at sea from Japan to Alaska.

You might say where are the Kurile Islands and who owns them? Russia AND Japan both maintain they do and have been debating this since the end of WWII. The islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. Russia took control of the islands at the end of the war, and by 1949 it had deported all residents to Japan.

Currently, as of February 7, 2023, the 168th anniversary of the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, Japan reaffirmed its position that it considers the 4 islands to be illegally occupied by Russia. In a statement, Fumio Kishida stated that "It is completely unacceptable that the Northern Territories have yet to be returned since the Soviet Union's illegal occupation of them 77 years ago". On March 22, 2023, Russia said it deployed a division of its Bastion coastal defense missile systems to Paramushir. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said it was to bolster Russian security around the Kuril Islands and partly in response to the United States efforts to "contain" Russia and China.

I will "choose" to say I spent this birthday with my 380 close friends that I travelled with around the World ... and we are somewhere in "safe waters" in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific is the Worlds largest body of water ... 70 million square miles (double the size of the Atlantic), covering one third of the earths surface. If all the Earths land masses were put in the Pacific, there would still be room left over. Plenty of room for everyone.Okumaya devam et