Japan has yet to sign a peace treaty ending WWII with Russia because Russia has refused to return which islands to Japan?

• A. Sakhalin Island
• B. Hokkaido
• C. Kuril Islands
• D. Okinawa

Answer: (C)

After World War II, Soviet forces occupied the southern Kuril Islands and have kept them since, while Japan claims sovereignty over those same islands. This unresolved sovereignty dispute is precisely why a formal peace treaty hasn’t been signed between Japan and Russia. The set of islands involved is the Kuril Islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. The other places listed aren’t the focus of this postwar dispute: Hokkaido and Okinawa are Japanese territories, and Sakhalin is under Russian administration but not the specific group that Japan claims back for a peace treaty, so they don’t fit the scenario described.