For Yuki Nishida, 23, the Soviet Union and Russia had long been the frightening foes who seized Kunashiri Island, where his grandmother lived, after Japan's World War II surrender.
His 78-year-old grandmother routinely told Nishida about her agonizing days in 1945 when the Soviets seized her hometown. The stories of how she hid from them, and how she escaped the island at night on a fishing boat, were chilling enough to make him hate Moscow. The Soviets had not only seized Kunashiri, but Shikotan, Etorofu and the Hamobai islets as well.
Nishida's hatred of the Russians, however, subsided when he visited Shikotan on a visa-free group tour in 2008. The two-day trip was organized by the state-backed Northern Territories Issue Association.