With the cancellation last week of the first chartered flight between Hokkaido and the Russian-held islands off Japan's northeast coast, former residents want politicians to pay less attention to the political weather in Tokyo and Moscow and put more focus on the real weather when planning the next trip.
About 70 former residents of Kunashiri and Etorofu islands and their family members found themselves stuck at Nakashibetu in eastern Hokkaido for not one but two days as fog and mist over Kunashiri prevented the plane, chartered from a Russian airline, from making the trip.
There was disappointment over the cancellation, but also questions about the timing.