"All of us, the fans of the Russian culture, who have gathered here should make enthusiastic efforts for the soonest lifting of sanctions [against Russia]," Hatoyama said at the closing ceremony of the ninth festival of Russian culture in Tokyo.
As many as 50 programs have been organized as part of the festival, which has attracted over 1.5 million people, with the total number of the events exceeding 2,000.
More than 12.5 million people have visited the festival since it was first organized in 2006, taking part in concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events in 27 prefectures and 72 cities in Japan.
Hatoyama recalled that during his visit to Moscow in October the Russian Parliament's chairman of the lower house, Sergey Naryshkin, expressed disappointment in Japan's decision to sanction Russia and called it a mistake.
The United States and a number of countries following its lead, including Japan, introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia over its alleged participation in the Ukrainian conflict.
Russia has repeatedly denied accusations of meddling in the Ukrainian crisis and stated that the use of sanctions is counterproductive.
On November 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that unilateral sanctions against Russia, including those imposed by the United States, the European Union, Japan and Australia, are illegitimate and threaten international stability.
