Addressing the Northern Territories dispute
After the Second World War an undecided territorial issue between the USSR/Russia and Japan was the fate of the four most southern of the Northern Territories, as they are known in Japan, or the Kuril Isles to the Russians. This survey from the Cabinet Office Japan (so obviously there is an inherent bias towards the official government position) looked at what the Japanese think about the Northern Territories issue.
Demographics
3,000 members of the public aged 20 or over were randomly selected for face-to-face interviews between the 9th and 19th of October 2008. 1,826 people, or 60.9%, agreed to take part. Sex and age demographics were not given, but since Cabinet Office surveys are conducted face-to-face they tend to catch an older demographic.
As background on the issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a pamphlet describing the Japanese position, Gregory Clarke wrote an article on this for the Japan Times a few years ago, and Russia Today looked at the new Japanese curriculum that will start teaching that the isles are Japanese.
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