Prime Minister Naoto Kan attended the 2011 National Rally to Demand the Return of the Northern Territories, held in Tokyo.

The National Rally is held every year in Tokyo on February 7, which is Northern Territories Day, since 1981, as an event for government officials, former islanders, organizations campaigning for the return of the territories, and others to gather at a single venue to call for further and broader development of the national movement for the return of the Northern Territories, and to express a strong resolve to demand the early return of the Northern Territories to the people both inside and outside Japan.

The Prime Minister said in his address, "For my part, I will continue my tenacious efforts to advance negotiations with Russia with a strong determination, in line with the government's basic position of resolving the issue of the attribution of the Four Northern Islands and concluding a peace treaty, based on the agreements and documents hitherto signed between Japan and Russia.
Furthermore, the issue of the Northern Territories concerns the entire people of Japan, and must therefore be resolved by gathering and mobilizing all sorts of information and wisdom.
Already 66 years are about to pass without seeing the resolution of the Northern Territories issue. The former islanders are aging, although many of them are present at this rally today. I have renewed my strong resolve here to bring about a resolution to the issue by all means, while these people are still in good shape.
I earnestly ask for your great support for further and more powerful promotion of the campaign to demand the return of the Northern Territories as a national movement, and for the advancement of the government's negotiations with Russia."