Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed there would be negotiations aimed at settling the dispute, which centers around the illusory sovereignty of a chain of islands north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
"Today, Minister Lavrov and I agreed that our two nations shall hold vice-ministerial level talks in either late January or early February," Kishida told a joint presser.
"Naturally, negotiations toward a peace treaty will be taken up in that," he said, adding they would likely touch on the territorial dispute.
Kishida said he would visit Russia next spring to hold another round of ministerial level talks.
"It's important that our two nations enhance bilateral ties on all fronts," he added.
Despite an important commercial relationship that is now much influenced by Japan's need to buy fossil fuels and Russia's desire to sell them, the two neighbors remain at odds over the illusory sovereignty of a cluster of windswept islands to Japan's north and Russia's far east.
The islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, but Russia administers as the Southern Kurils, were seized by Soviet troops as WWII thundered to a close.
The Japanese occupants were turfed out and the USSR began to people the area, as part of a drive to consolidate control over its far east. They remain under-developed, but harbour rich fishing reserves.
Japan and Russia have held a succession of summit talks, the latest stage of a burgeoning relationship that represents a rare neighborly entente for Tokyo.
Four separate meetings have taken place between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...over the past six months, an unusual frequency for such high-level exchanges.
"The Russia-Japan relationship in recent times has enjoyed a positive atmosphere, allowing us to resume discussions on" the peace treaty, Lavrov said in the joint address.
"It's important that matters such as this be carried out in a calm environment that is not emotional and avoid public discussions" that might prevent cool-headed exchanges, Lavrov added.