Saturday morning’s Sankei and Asahi reported in their inside pages that Russia’s Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East announced on June 2 that Russia is planning to create special economic zones in the Northern Territories by the end of this year to foster such industries as fish farming and tourism on the islands of Etorofu and Kunashiri. Asahi wrote that Russia is hoping for Japanese investment and may request Japan’s economic cooperation in the new economic zones.