When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in the Russian resort town of Sochi in May, they agreed on one thing: the need for a new approach to settling the dispute over four islands off Hokkaido.

The islands, which the Soviet Union seized toward the end of World War II, stretch to the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula and are the subject of a 71-year-old dispute that has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty to formally end the war.

Because Putin finally plans to visit Japan in December, speculation is growing the two sides might start the process of resolving the dispute.