"It is foolish to think that the Japanese will come and fix everything"

The Kuril Islands for the vast majority of residents of Russia are an incognite terra, some points on the map, because of which Moscow and Tokyo have been traded for more than half a century. According to the latest polls , the number of Russians who are ready to support the idea of the transfer of Japan to several islands of the Kuril ridge for the conclusion of a peace treaty has grown in two years from 7 to 17 percent. The rallies under the slogan "Our Kurili" collect in Central Russia a maximum of a few hundred participants. At the last on January 20, in Moscow, an action organized by Sergei Udaltsov, the declared number of protesters was only 500 people.

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Meanwhile, on the Kurils themselves, all the latest geopolitical news cause much more anxiety. Kuril residents - this is the name of the permanent residents of this region - for the most part they do not particularly believe that they can become full -fledged citizens of the country of the rising sun in the event of serious geopolitical changes.

Valentina Terekhova spent all her childhood and school years in Yuzhno-Kurilsk. Then she graduated from one of the Khabarovsk universities and is now going to return to Kunashir, where her parents live. On January 20, Valentina participated in a rally against the transfer of Kurili Japan.

- Here, they say that we will have dual citizenship. But we can now fly cheap to Japan now - a trip there costs only 30 thousand rubles. The Japanese also come to us. So do not believe that the Kuril residents want Japan. We have now built so many things on the island: both a sports complex and modern roads. True, ours are joking: they say, they probably tried for the Japanese, ”says Valentina.

- Participating in rallies, do you hope that you will be heard in Moscow?

-Actually, I had not been engaged in politics before, but now that when it comes to my homeland, I decided to express my opinion. I do not think that this can somehow change the situation. It seems to me that if “there, upstairs” made a decision, then local residents are unlikely to be able to influence Moscow. Although, on the other hand, the rally was not in vain. If people had not gathered, then the authorities would probably have thought that everyone doesn’t care, and perhaps they would have given our islands.

- Is there a very torn torture from the mainland and the rest of Russia on the Kuril Islands?

- Of course, this is. For example, paperwork has to be waiting for a long time, because all officials are on Sakhalin. If you buy a car and want to register it, then you have to send documents from the local police department to the regional traffic police of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. This is not that very inconvenient, just people spend more time waiting for the necessary pieces of paper. It also happens that sellers sell low -quality goods. It happens that you come to the store, and there are expired products. You will come, ask you to remove. And tomorrow they are again on the counter. Because there is no quality control. And so we have everything that is supposed to: the local administration, school, kindergarten, district police officer, police and mail. Everything is fine with this.

- How do you get to your island from Khabarovsk?

- There are several ways. A plane flies from Khabarovsk to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and from there it goes steam to Yuzhno-Kurilsk. Tickets come out a little more than 10 thousand rubles. But this is only for the locals: those who have a residence permit on the islands have transport benefits for the road from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Kunashir. And you can also get from Khabarovsk to the port of Vanino, from there on a ferry to Kholmsk, then with a bus to Korsakov, from which - again on a ferry. Such a trip costs about 12 thousand rubles. You can get with the transport company "Island" from Vladivostok by ferry - on the way for four days. But there passengers are not always taken, but for money it comes out the same way: up to 15 thousand one way.

- Your parents now live on the island. In general, now in Yuzhno-Kurilsk there is more-pensioners or youth?

- We have very few pensioners. Having retired, people try to leave "to the mainland", closer to civilization. But young families, on the contrary, feel comfortable. My younger sister says, they say, to raise a child here is very useful for his health. We have clean, sea, a lot of greenery, good ecology and very beautiful nature. The population is mainly replenished by contractors: there are a lot of them, after all, this is a border zone. Some of them after service remain on the island, make families. Well, it is true, our families are convenient: there is a modern school, kindergarten. Everything is close, and the teachers are very good, tuned to give knowledge, and not to train the next stream of students on the exam. I myself felt this when I entered the University of Khabarovsk: I went to a budget place without problems.

- Nevertheless, you had to go quite far for higher education?

-I could study in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, there are also universities. But I have relatives in Khabarovsk, so I chose this city. This is also my homeland, I was born here.

In 2015, the first dressing was opened in Yuzhno-Kurilsk, but there is forever the inscription "There is no gasoline"

- As on the island with prices?

- Our products are much more expensive than on the mainland. For example, bread for one hundred rubles or milk for two hundred. But the locals have their own "life hacks": the Kurilsk residents are waiting for the ship to come, and then they are purchased fresh products. Vegetables, milk are bought mainly in this way, and go to stores only in extreme cases. It is also invoice to buy equipment from us: sellers are “bend”, not always conscientious, let's say. But here there is a way out: if you are going to buy something serious, then you usually order from Vladivostok, and then you take it to a transport company. In these areas - products and manufacturing - everything is established, one might say, the locals are already used to it. The same with gasoline. In 2015, the first dressing was opened in Yuzhno-Kurilsk, but there is forever the inscription "There is no gasoline." Because when he appears, he is immediately sold out for the future, even 58 rubles per liter. And most of the family budget "eats" the rental of apartments. For example, my sister’s husband works in construction. His salary, by the standards of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, is not good-about 50 thousand rubles. But renting an apartment should be from 20 thousand. This, of course, is expensive. The price is high due to the fact that the tenants are guided by all on the same contractors: they will eat housing for at least 20, at least for 30 thousand, the Ministry of Defense compensates for. So it turns out that families "fall".

- Are people also used to earthquakes?

- Fortunately, we had no strong earthquakes or eruptions in the volcano for a long time. According to trifles, four times a week, we are “shaking” for three scores - so that the refrigerator walks with a shaking. After that, sometimes they happen to the tsunami. On Kunashir there is even a “spontaneous” monument to the ship, which was once thrown into almost the middle of the island - it remained there. Otherwise, everything is calm. By the way, you quickly get used to earthquakes, we are not building high houses, just because of seismic hazard. There are only two and three -story wooden houses on the island. But with amenities, not any huts. Therefore, there should not be large destruction in a critical situation.

- How far from you Japan?

- In the narrowest place of the strait to the island of Hokkaido, only 20 kilometers. At night, the lights on the other side are perfectly visible from our shore. For the residents, the smoking, by the way, is a preferential program for visiting Japan. For example, for just 30 thousand rubles you can go there for a week and live in a Japanese family, get acquainted with their culture, customs. I myself went like that, very interesting and affordable. The Japanese also come to us, but mainly in the case: they visit the burials of their ancestors, take care of the graves.

With the tourist infrastructure in our city, it is not very good in our city - one entrepreneur converted the old house under the hotel, put the billiards there and arranged a sauna. That's the whole hotel business. But visitors from Japan can live in Russian families. For example, if my mother wants to accept the Japanese, she simply submits an application to the city administration, and that’s it, you can wait for the guests. Communication usually goes either in Russian or in Japanese. The Japanese may well explain in the broken Russian, although we also have those who know Japanese perfectly. Well, the basic phrases in Japanese, in order not to get lost or introduce themselves, the inhabitants of Kunashir know almost everyone.

- What are your impressions after visiting Japan?

- Contrast, of course, is felt. I went there for a long time, in 2003 or 2004. Everything there is very clean, cultural, nothing to say. And the trip program was rich, diverse. Compared to our territory, Hokkaido is a big difference. But they, as it seemed to me, have much fewer natural resources. For example, when I went there, we had an event on the coast in our program - we dug up mollusks. We can collect them with buckets, and there we were given literally on a children's bucket. Although, maybe they guard them or save them in this way.

-Are there any joint Russian-Japanese projects on your island?

-In addition to tourist exchange, we have a Russian-Japanese cultural center. Teachers come to us several times a year, and the islanders can learn Japanese with a native speaker. It is very convenient, and most importantly, efficiently.

- Do you have conflicts with the Japanese?

- When they come to Kunashir, the outwardly always very calm, friendly, always smile. I have never met some negativity from them. That's when we came to them, from some stores we used to drive us out: they say, Kysh, tourists. But these are isolated cases, as a rule, they behave very culturally.

- But there is an opinion that it would be better if the Kurillers were handed over to Japan, they say, then the island would have been healing, it developed ...

- In general, among my friends, relatives, friends and friends there are no such people. And those who want the islands to be given to Japan, dream of the charms of dual citizenship or count on compensation from the Japanese government when moving to the mainland. I personally do not believe this: why would we suddenly pay us three million: this is the average price of a two -room apartment on the island. Yes, and the inhabitants of Yuzhno-Kurilsk to their city, their home are trembling: they follow the order, they are landscaped all the time. I know that on Iturup the situation is worse than ours, the roads are not being repaired there, they are almost not building houses, besides, high unemployment. But people still live. And, in my opinion, it is foolish to hope that the Japanese will come and correct everything, and we will also leave us to live there or give out tremendous amounts of compensation.

- You say that after graduation, you will return to the smokers. Why?

- I'm going to return. Young people there are easier to realize themselves than in a big city. In Yuzhno-Kurilsk, all the doors are open, just work. There is no extra fuss, a more measured life in which there is time on a hobby. And there is my house, there is my favorite nature, a clean sea. It pulls me there, despite all the difficulties of life.