On the morning of Nov. 1, Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to set foot on one of the four islands off Hokkaido seized by the Soviets at the end of World War II that Japan has long wanted returned.

The Russian president's visit triggered strong outrage not only against Moscow, but against the Democratic Party of Japan-led government and Prime Minister Naoto Kan's "amateurish" diplomacy, critics said.

The spat over the islands has been festering for decades and has kept the two nations from forging a World War II peace treaty.