The Abe administration is eager to improve relations with Moscow and resolve the long-standing territorial dispute over the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to invite President Vladimir Putin to his home prefecture of Yamaguchi in December for a summit.
A political scenario circulating in Nagatacho goes that Abe will win a partial return of the islands through his talks with Putin — possibly Shikotan and the Habomai group of islets — and dissolve the Lower House for a snap election that his Liberal Democratic Party would then win by another landslide, riding on the wave of popular acclaim for his diplomatic achievement.
I view this scenario with skepticism since it is unlikely that Putin's Russia — which has annexed Crimea, supported the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad in its massacre of civilians, and ignored international criticism over such acts — would hand over territory to Japan out of goodwill.