Representatives of campaign teams that had traveled the length and breadth of Japan appealing for the return of the Northern Territories paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi at the Prime Minister's Official Residence and presented him with written requests from all prefectural governors for the early return of the territories, a group of islands off Hokkaido that have been occupied by Russia since the end of World War II.

The Moscow Declaration, signed by the Prime Minister and Russian President Boris Yeltsin when the Prime Minister made an official visit to Russia in November 1998, reaffirmed their resolve to make utmost efforts to conclude a Russo-Japanese peace treaty by the year 2000. A special campaign crisscrossing Japan was launched in October this year to support diplomatic negotiations by heightening public opinion for the return of the Northern Territories, with one team traversing eastern Japan and another western Japan. The two teams set off on October 20 from Nemuro, Hokkaido, and Naha, Okinawa, respectively and spent almost a month publicizing the cause of the return of the Northern Territories nationwide.