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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the commemorative ceremony for the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia, which was held in Shimoda City of Shizuoka Prefecture. The commemorative ceremony was held at the Madogahama Kaiyu Park in Shimoda City, where the Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation between Japan and Russia was signed in 1855, to commemorate the exchanges between the two countries thereafter for the past 150 years. At the ceremony, Prime Minister Koizumi, Mr. Aleksandr P. Losyukov, the Ambassador of Russia to Japan, Mr. Nobutaka Machimura, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Ms. Yuriko Koike, the Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, each delivered an address. They also planted a commemorative tree, a kawazu-sakura (a type of cherry blossom tree), together with people who have connections to Admiral Putyatin, who concluded the treaty from the Russian side, as well as the descendants of Controller Kawaji Toshiakira of the Edo Shogunate. In his address, Prime Minister Koizumi stated, "We must build new, future-oriented relations looking ahead to the next 50 to 100 years by concluding a peace treaty through the resolution of the Northern Territories issue, the only outstanding issue between Japan and Russia. I have a firm resolve to exert our utmost efforts, together with President Putin, for the creation of new Japan-Russia relations."