kurando tago, nhk world. >>> former residents of the islands have spent decades waiting for a resolution. for one japanese man he is holding out hope for an agreement but fears time may run out. nhk world has the story. >> reporter: even though he was only a child, he says he will never forget that feeling. he wasas born and brought up on the island one of the four russian islands japan claims. this is his chilildhood village. at the time about 600 people lived there. his f family owned a cannerery. on thehe morning o of augustt 2 1945, the soviet army came to his village. >> translator: we always thought our enemies were the americans. we never imagined the russians wouldttttack us. we couldn't undedetand whahad d happened. >> reporte t two years later mikami a his famil wer foed to leavthe isnd. >> reporter: mikami didn't see his village, again, for another 59 years. he got to return for a brief visit in 2006 thanks to a special arrangement between the two countries. but what he remembered as home was home no more. he decided to put his emotions into a short poem. >> translator: so muc

kurando tago, nhk world, tokyo. >>> nhk newsline comes to you live from tokyo. let's now turn to weather with wildfires in the u.s. >> its large wildfirires are engulfing two famous tourist spots in eastern tennessee, including gatlinburg. yes, we did have some rainfafal but the amount was not enough so conditions are still quite severe. let's go to some video. devastating fires in the great smoky mountains have left seven people dead and damaging 100 homes so far this week. thousands of people fled gatlinburg due to powerful wildfires that spread quickly to strong winds and extremely dry conditions. rainy weather did help the firefighters, but downed power lines and fallen trees stopped several smaller fires in the area. about 12,000 homes and businesses are left without power. the weather has been extremely dry and, in fact, 99% of tennessee is under severe to exceptional drought. much of the southeastern u.s. has been having dry weather. yesterday we had some rainfall, but the severe weathermaker is pushing away. it's dry lat at least into saturday. dry weath

kurando tago, nhk world, nagato. >>> all right. japan and russia have spent more than seven decades without a peace treaty. leaders have been discussing settling the territorial issue. here's a look back on how that's being played out. >> reporter: japan calls the four islands the northern territories and maintains they have an inherent part of its territory. ru russia says they became part of their country as a consequence of war. in the final year of world war ii the former -- the japanese government says it was a violation of a neutrality pact. soviet leader joseph stalin annexed the islands and deported 17,000 japanese. a decade later, japan and russia resumed diplomatic relations, but the islands remained a sticking point and leaders agreed to continue talks on signing a peace treaty. in the years since, moscow has been building infrastructure for the russians who call the islands home. currently about 16,000 people live there. and as the leaders of both countries changed, both sides continued their discussions over the disput