Japan issues inheritance rights to real estate in South Kuriles.

22/9 Tass 110

TOKYO, September 22 (Itar-Tass) - Japanese authorities issue without
much ado, but regularly, inheritance rights to citizens to real estate,
belonging to their relatives in the South Kuriles before 1945, Itar-Tass
learnt at the legal department of Kushiro City on Hokkaido Island, which
is in charge of such documents.
"All in all, 599 records on inheritance of this type were made between
1945 and the end of August 2009," replied to a request an official of this
department, engaged in state registration and notarial procedures.
The Itar-Tass office in Japan found out that the branch of the legal
department of Kushiro City in the Nemuro port has 8,322 documents on land
ownership in the South Kuriles. They are compiled in 182 files five cm
thick each. There are also 1,921 records on ownership of houses - 59 files
in all. The same place partially collected the so-called household records
on Japanese who had lived in the South Kuriles in the past.
The Japanese authorities prohibit making any operation with documents
on real estate in the islands, referring to the fact that the country's
real administrative powers do not cover them. For instance it is
impossible to buy this property virtually. However, it is possible to make
inheritance records in documents.
Activists of the movement for the so-called return of northern
territories sometimes transfer their official address to the South
Kuriles: Japanese legislation does not prohibit this.
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