The Japan–Russia border is the '' de facto''

maritime boundary A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of Earth's water surface areas using physiographical or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Boun ...

that separates the

territorial waters Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...

of the two countries. According to the Russian border agency, the border's length is . The two countries do not share a terrestrial border, although they did during the period 1905–1945 when the island of

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

was split between Japan and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(and later the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

History

The border between Russia and Japan has changed several times over the last 200 years. The

Treaty of Shimoda The Treaty of Shimoda (下田条約, ''Shimoda Jouyaku'') (formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia 日露和親条約, ''Nichi-Ro Washin Jouyaku'') of February 7, 1855, was the first treaty between the Russian Empire, a ...

(1855) divided the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

, creating a maritime boundary between the Japanese Etorofu (Iturup) in the south and the Russian

Urup Urup (; , ) is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain in the south of the Sea of Okhotsk, northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu language word ''urup'', meaning "sockeye salmon". Geography and climate U ...

in the north. The treaty did not determine the status of Sakhalin. The

Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) The Treaty of Saint Petersburg (; ) between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire was signed on 7 May 1875, and its ratifications exchanged at Tokyo on 22 August 1875. The treaty itself went into effect in 1877. Its terms stipulated tha ...

assigned

Sakhalin Island Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

to Russia and all of the

Kurile Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

to Japan. Thus during the following 30 years the maritime border between the two empires ran along the

La Pérouse Strait La Pérouse Strait (), or , is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan on the west with the Sea of Okhotsk on the east. ...

(between

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

and Sakhalin) and the

Kuril Strait First Kuril Strait (, ) (also known as just Kuril Strait) is a strait, located at , separating the Shumshu Island of the Kuril Islands from the Cape Lopatka, Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far ...

(between Russian

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

and

Shumshu Shumshu (; ; ) is the easternmost and second-northernmost island of the Kuril Islands chain, which divides the Sea of Okhotsk from the northwest Pacific Ocean. The name of the island is derived from the Ainu language, meaning "good island". It i ...

Island in the Kurils). During the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, Japan was able to invade and occupy the whole of Sakhalin island over several weeks in July 1905. By the

Treaty of Portsmouth The Treaty of Portsmouth is a treaty that formally ended the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905, after negotiations from August 6 to 30, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States. U.S. P ...

, which concluded the war, Russia ceded the southern half of Sakhalin to Japan (incorporated as

Karafuto Prefecture , was established by the Empire of Japan in 1907 to govern the southern part of Sakhalin. This territory became part of the Empire of Japan in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded by the R ...

), while Japanese troops withdrew from its northern half; thus the two countries the first time in their history shared a land border, which ran along the

50th parallel north Following are circles of latitude between the 45th parallel north and the 50th parallel north: 46th parallel north The 46th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 46 degree (angle), degrees true north, north of the Earth, Earth's equat ...

across the entire island of Sakhalin, from the

Strait of Tartary Strait of Tartary or Gulf of Tartary (; ; ; ) is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia (South-East Russia), connecting the Sea of Okhotsk ( Nevelskoy Strait) on the north with the Sea of Japan ...

to the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

. Even though Japan occupied the northern part of Sakhalin in 1920–1925, during and after the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, Soviet control in the northern Sakhalin was established in 1925, and the 50th parallel became the Japan-USSR border. Since the Japanese Empire incorporated Korea by 1910, the short Korea–Russia border also became part of the border between the Japanese and Russian Empires, and later (until 1945), between the Japanese Empire and the USSR. The land border in Sakhalin was crossed by the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

in August 1945, while Soviet marines landed in the Kurils. As a result of the short

Soviet–Japanese War The Soviet–Japanese War)Known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945 () was a campaign of the Second World War that began with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945. The ...

, the whole of Sakhalin and the Kurils became ''de facto'' (and ''de jure'', under the Soviet law) part of the USSR, and of its constituent part, the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. Even though the USSR and Japan reestablished diplomatic relations a decade later (the

Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 The Soviet Union did not sign the 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan, which had reestablished peaceful relations between most other Allied Powers and Japan. On 19 October 1956, Japan and the Soviet Union signed a Joint Declaration providing for ...

), no peace treaty or maritime boundary agreement between the two countries has been signed.

Description

The existing ''de facto'' (and, from the Russian point of view, also ''de jure'') Russian-Japanese border follows several sea straits: the

, the

Nemuro Strait Nemuro Strait (), also called Notsuke Strait and Kunashirsky Strait (), is a strait separating Kunashir Island of the Kuril Islands, Russia ( claimed by Japan) from the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokkaidō, Japan. The strait connects the Sea of Okhots ...

, and Izmeny Strait ( Notsuke Strait) and the Sovietsky Strait, which separate

and the

from the Japanese island of

. In Japan's view, the de jure border passes through the La Perouse Strait and the

Vries Strait Vries Strait (, ''Proliv Friza''), historically also known as the De Vries Strait, is a strait between two main islands of the Kurils. It is located between the northeastern end of the island of Iturup and the southwestern headland of Urup Islan ...

Territorial disputes

Japan claims the southern group of the

(viz.

Iturup Iturup (; ), also historically known by #Names, other names, is an island in the Kuril Archipelago separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. The town of Kurilsk, administrative center of Kurilsky District, is located roughly mi ...

Shikotan Shikotan, also known as Shpanberg or Spanberg, is an island in the Kurils administered by the Russian Federation as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast. It is claimed by Japan as the titular , organized as part of Nemuro Subpre ...

Kunashir Kunashir Island (; ; ), possibly meaning ''Black Island'' or ''Grass Island'' in Ainu language, Ainu, is the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands. The island has been under Russia, Russian administration since the end of World War II, when S ...

and

Habomai The Habomai Islands (; ) are a group of uninhabited islets (but for the Russian guards stationed there) in the southernmost Kuril Islands. The islands have been under Soviet/Russian administration since the 1945 invasion by the Soviet Union nea ...

), which were occupied by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1945 and incorporated into its

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalinskaya oblastʹ, p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian ...

. Russia treats the islands as an integral part of the country.

Sakhalin-Hokkaido tunnel

The Sakhalin-Hokkaido tunnel, or possibly a bridge, is a proposed 45 km (28 miles) connection to Russia's Sakhalin island and Japan's Hokkaido island. When the project is complete, it will span across the Soya strait and become the longest bridge in the world if it becomes a bridge. There, people can go to the other side by a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

or by a

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

Checkpoints

There are no border crossing points on the Russian-Japanese border, as it is a purely maritime boundary. During the existence of the land border in Sakhalin (1905-1945), it was crossed by one road. However, when the Sakhalin-Hokkaido tunnel is complete, there will be checkpoints at the tunnel.

Notes