Russian flag spotted flying atop lighthouse in Japan-claimed Northern Territories

NEMURO, Hokkaido -- A Russian flag was found flying at the top of a lighthouse on Kaigara Island, part of the Habomai islets in the Japan-claimed, Russian-held Northern Territories, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.

Sakhalin Oblast's Telegram channel "Shikotan Telegraph" published an article on Aug. 3 with a photo which it described as a large hydrographic survey vessel of the Russian Pacific Fleet. On the following day, it posted that a crew member of the fleet's survey ship had raised the flag, but their reason and purpose remain unclear.

The flag -- colored white, blue and red from the top to the bottom -- flutters above the lantern on the uppermost part of the lighthouse. It is believed to have been placed there in late July. On Aug. 2, a Japan Nemuro Coast Guard Office patrol vessel confirmed seeing something that "looked like a Russian flag."

As the area around the cape was covered by thick fog for several days, an employee of the Hoppo-kan educational facility had to wait until the morning of Aug. 12 before they could succeed in taking a photo of the flag.

Japan installed the roughly 17-meter-high lighthouse on Kaigara Island in 1937. The lantern had been on and off more than 40 times after World War II, but it has not lit up since it went out in November 2014. The rocky reef area around the lighthouse is shallow and ships have difficulty approaching. The lighthouse has also deteriorated significantly, and it's believed that the flag was hoisted there without regard for danger.

An initiative called the "Kaigara Island lighthouse renovation project" was discussed during the September 2017 Japan-Russia summit meeting in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, but it has not progressed due to the souring relations between the two nations.

(Japanese original by Hiroaki Homma, Nemuro Bureau)