Visa free trips between Japan, South Kuriles under threat

TOKYO (Itar-Tass) - The program of visa free trips between
several Japanese islands and the South Kuriles that has already been in
effect for more than 20 years turned out to be under threat. This tendency
is taking shape because the authorities from the Japanese city of Shari,
Hokkaido Prefecture, arrested a passenger ferryboat for tax dodging, Kyodo
News reported on Friday.
A Japanese company, which is registered in the city of Nemuro,
Hokkaido Prefecture, owns the ferryboat. "The Shari city authorities
arrested the ferryboat, because the owner of a local hotel, which is a
partner of the shipowner evaded paying 150 million yens (1.8 million
dollars) as the property tax" last November.
Last March the shipowner was seeking to make the authorities issue an
operating license and to operate the ferryboat this year, but failed to
receive a definite answer. Under the bilateral agreement the trip of the
first group of Japanese to the Kuriles in 2011 is scheduled for the middle
of May, but it is unclear whether or not it will take place.
Visa free trips between residents of the Russian South Kuriles and
Japan have been made since 1992 under the intergovernmental agreement to
improve the mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries
and to settle the problem of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan. The
visa free trips are made on a national passport with a special enclosure
and without any visas. For this period of time more than 18,000 Japanese
visited the Kuriles and more than 8,000 Kuril residents visited Japan.