Storm Watch Over the Kurils

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Delayed for days by fog, wind and rain - weather as usual in the Kuril Islands - a passenger helicopter drops in on Paramushir, a piece of an island chain its Russian owners call "the end of the world."
A laboratory for hardy scientists, the crater bay on uninhabited Yankicha teems with marine life, the product of an unusual environment in which cold ocean tides mingle with superheated waters from volcanic vents.
The Japanese return, if only for a day, to tend the overgrown graves of their ancestors. On Shikotan, Setsu Nitta leaves offerings of red rice, sake, and flowers on her father-in-law's plot. She last knelt here as a young woman, one of 17,000 Japanese expelled by Soviet troops by 1949.
Local hot spot, a thermal pool draws a crowd on Kunashir. Nature provides some of hte few luxuries in the Kurils, where many homes lack hot water and supplies arrive fitfully.
Salmon may run but they can't hide from Iturup fishermen, who unload a weir strung across the Reydovaya River. For all the wealth produced by the Kurils - a third of Russia's fish catch comes from the greater island region - little returns to upgrade the area's primitive infrastructure.
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Beaten up by blizzards and typhoons , the town of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, population 2,500, grimly stands its ground on Kunashir.
Flowers bloom from the hands of students on the first day of school on Kunashir. After the 1994 earthquake, which crumpled factories and houses, many families removed children from the island. Now enrollment is rising again.
Communal toilet training gathers toddlers at a Paramushir nursery school. Most of their parents work on fishing boats and processing plants.
Fresh-air entrepreneur showcases fur hats she brought in for resale on Iturup.
Dressed for success, frontier style, Alexander Sanin works the phone in his well-stocked home on Kunashir. He prospers as a dealmaker for fishermen selling their catch to the Japanese.
Long faces anticipate long hours as cannery workers on Kunashir absorb a stern lecture from a supervisor on the virtures of efficiency.
Above politics (and below the photographer's helicopter) Kudryavyy volcano sends out signals proclaiming true wilderness 3,235 feet high on Iturup.
An aerial view of Yankicha Island, part of the Kuril Islands in Russia.
An aerial view of Yankicha Island, part of the Kuril Islands in Russia.
An aerial view of Yankicha Island, part of the Kuril Islands in Russia.
An aerial view of Yankicha Island, part of the Kuril Islands in Russia.
Japanese visiting graves.
Japanese visiting graves...ancestors, candle, flowers, grave, japan, Kuril Islands, Kurils, mourning, National Geographic, offering, overgrown, People, plot, red rice, respect, sake, Shikotan, woman
Japanese visiting graves.
Rosinka hot springs in Lisnaya River.
Hot Springs
Hot springs in Kunishir
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Women endure squalid conditions at a scallop packing plant on Paramushir. One of the island's two newly privatized plants has been modernized.
First day of School in Yazhno, Kurilsk
First day of school in Yazhno, Kurilsk.
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Students take accordion lessons.
Nursery School in Paramushir
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Group potty training at Paramushir Nursery School.
Group potty training at Paramushir Nursery School.
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Harvesting potatoes.
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Town Fish Factory in Yazhno, Kurilsk
Town Fish Factory in Yazhno, Kurilsk
Fish factory workers in Yazhno, Kurilsk
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House and garden tour
Wedding celebration.
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Wedding celebration.