Karafuto Prefecture ( ja, 樺太庁, ''Karafuto-chō''; russian: Префектура Карафуто, Prefektura Karafuto), commonly known as South Sakhalin, was a

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

located in

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

from 1907 to 1949. Karafuto became territory of the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent form ...

in 1905 after the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

when the portion of Sakhalin south of 50°N was ceded from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

in the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

. Karafuto was established in 1907 as an external territory until being upgraded to an " Inner Land" of the Japanese

metropole A metropole (from the Greek '' metropolis'' for "mother city") is the homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire. From the 19th century, the English term ''metropole'' was mainly used in the scope of ...

in 1943. Ōtomari (Korsakov) was the capital of Karafuto from 1905 to 1908 and

Toyohara Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ( rus, Ю́жно-Сахали́нск, a=Ru-Южно-Сахалинск.ogg, p=ˈjuʐnə səxɐˈlʲinsk, literally "South Sakhalin City") is a city on Sakhalin island, and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. ...

(Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) from 1908 to August 1945 when the Japanese administration ceased to function in the invasion of South Sakhalin by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

after the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Na ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Karafuto Prefecture was

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...

replaced with Sakhalin Oblast, although it continued to exist

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...

under Japanese law until it was formally abolished as a legal entity by Japan on 1 June 1949.

Name

The Japanese name ''Karafuto'' purportedly comes from

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

() which means "the island a god has created on the estuary (of

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...

)". It was formerly known as ''Kita Ezo'', meaning Northern

Ezo (also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of Honshu. It included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 18 ...

(Ezo was the former name for

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island 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 from Honshu; th ...

). When the Japanese administered the prefecture, ''Karafuto'' usually meant Southern Sakhalin only. For convenience, the northern part of the island was sometimes called ''Sagaren''. In Russian, the entire island was named ''Sakhalin'' or ''Saghalien''. It is from

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

''sahaliyan ula angga hada'', meaning "peak of the mouth of Amur River". The southern part was simply called ''Yuzhny Sakhalin'' ("South Sakhalin"). In Korean, the name is ''Sahallin'' or ''Hwataedo'', with the latter name in use during

Korea under Japanese rule Between 1910 and 1945, Korea was ruled as a part of the Empire of Japan. Joseon Korea had come into the Japanese sphere of influence with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876; a complex coalition of the Meiji government, military, and business off ...

History

Japanese settlement on Sakhalin dates to at least the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

. Ōtomari was established in 1679, and cartographers of the Matsumae domain mapped the island, and named it "Kita-

". Japanese cartographer and explorer Mamiya Rinzō established that Sakhalin was an island through his discovery of what is now named

Mamiya Strait Strait of Tartary or Gulf of Tartary (russian: Татарский пролив; ; ja, 間宮海峡, Mamiya kaikyō, Mamiya Strait; ko, 타타르 해협) is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland As ...

( Strait of Tartary) in 1809. Japan unilaterally proclaimed

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

over the whole island in 1845. The 1855

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 ...

acknowledged that both Russia and Japan had joint rights of occupation to Sakhalin, without setting a definite territorial demarcation. As the island became settled in the 1860s and 1870s, this ambiguity led to increasing friction between settlers. Attempts by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

to purchase the entire island from the

failed, and the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

was unable to negotiate a partition of the island into separate territories. In the

Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) The Treaty of Saint Petersburg ( ja, 樺太・千島交換条約, Karafuto-Chishima Kōkan Jōyaku; russian: Петербургский договор) between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire was signed on 7 May 1875, and its ratif ...

, Japan agreed to give up its claims on Sakhalin in exchange for undisputed ownership of the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese language, Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakh ...

. Japan invaded Sakhalin in the final stages of the

of 1904–1905, but per the 1905

was allowed to retain only the southern portion of the island below the 50° N parallel. Russia retained the northern portion, although the Japanese were awarded favorable commercial rights, including fishing and mineral extraction rights in the north. In 1907, Karafuto Prefecture was officially established, with the capital at Ōtomari. In 1908, the capital was relocated to

. In 1920, Karafuto was officially designated an external territory of Japan, and its administration and development came under the aegis of the Ministry of Colonial Affairs. Following the

Nikolaevsk Incident The was an international conflict in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East between Japan and the Far Eastern Republic during the Japanese intervention. The culmination was the execution of imprisoned Japanese prisoners of war and survivor ...

in 1920, Japan briefly seized the northern half of Sakhalin, and occupied it until the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the

in 1925; however, Japan continued to maintain

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

concessions in northern Sakhalin until 1944. In 1943, the status of Karafuto was upgraded to that of an " inner land", making it an integral part of the

. As Japan was extending its influence over

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...

and the Pacific through the establishment of a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

as part of its offensive contingency plans to invade the

if it either became involved in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...

or collapsed due to the ongoing German invasion, proposed the annexation of the remaining northern half of Sakhalin to Japan.

Soviet invasion

In August 1945, after repudiating the

Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact The , also known as the , was a non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan signed on April 13, 1941, two years after the conclusion of the Soviet-Japanese Border War. The agreement meant that for most of World War II ...

in April, and according to the signed agreements of Yalta, in which Stalin pledged that the Soviet Union would enter the Pacific War three months after the defeat of Germany, the

invaded Karafuto. The Soviet attack started on 11 August 1945, three weeks before the

. The Soviet 56th Rifle Corps, part of the 16th Army, consisting of the 79th Rifle Division, the 2nd Rifle Brigade, the 5th Rifle Brigade and the 214 Armored Brigade, attacked the Japanese 88th Infantry Division. Although the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

outnumbered the Japanese by three to one, they advanced only slowly due to strong Japanese resistance. It was not until the 113th Rifle Brigade and the 365th Independent Naval Infantry Rifle Battalion from

Sovetskaya Gavan Sovetskaya Gavan (russian: Сове́тская Га́вань, lit. ''Soviet harbor'') is a town in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, and a port on the Strait of Tartary which connects the Sea of Okhotsk in the north with the Sea of Japan in the south. ...

landed on Tōro, a seashore village of western Karafuto on 16 August that the Soviets broke the Japanese defense line. Japanese resistance grew weaker after this landing. Actual fighting continued until 21 August. Between 22 and 23 August, most remaining Japanese units agreed to a ceasefire. The Soviets completed the conquest of Karafuto on 25 August 1945, by occupying the capital of Toyohara.

Post-war

Border Security of the 50th parallel of north

There were over 400,000 people living in Karafuto when the Soviet offensive began in early August 1945. Most were of Japanese or Korean extraction, though there was also a small White Russian community as well as some Ainu indigenous tribes. By the time of the ceasefire, approximately 100,000 civilians had managed to escape to

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island 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 from Honshu; th ...

. The military government established by the Soviet Army banned the local press, confiscated cars and radio sets and imposed a curfew. Local managers and bureaucrats were made to aid Russian authorities in the process of reconstruction, before being deported to labor camps, either on North Sakhalin or in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

. In schools, courses in

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and vario ...

were introduced, and Japanese children were obliged to sing songs in praise of Stalin. Step by step Karafuto lost its Japanese identity. Sakhalin Oblast was created in February 1946, and by March all towns, villages and streets were renamed with Russian names. More and more colonists began to arrive from mainland Russia, with whom the Japanese were obliged to share the limited stock of housing. In October 1946 the Soviets began to repatriate all remaining Japanese. By 1950 most had been sent, willing or not, to Hokkaidō, though they had to leave all of their possessions behind, including any currency they had, Russian or Japanese. Today some keep alive the memory of their former home in the meetings of the ''Karafuto Renmei'', an association for former Karafuto residents. In 1945, with the defeat of Japan in

, the Japanese administration in Karafuto ceased to function. The Japanese government formally abolished Karafuto Prefecture as a legal entity on 1 June 1949. In 1951, at the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...

, Japan renounced its rights to Sakhalin, but did not formally acknowledge Soviet sovereignty over it. Since that time, no final peace treaty has been signed between Japan and Russia, and the status of the neighboring

remains disputed.

Geography

Economy

The pre-war economy of Karafuto was based on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

, together with extraction of

and

. In terms of industry, the paper industry and the

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...

production industry was well developed. Karafuto suffered from a labor shortage through most of its history, and tax incentives were provided to encourage immigration.Steven Ivings: ''Recruitment and coercion in Japan’s far north: Evidence from colonial Karafuto’s forestry and construction industries, 1910–37'', in: Labor History, Vol. 57 (2016), No. 2, pp. 215–234. During World War II, a large number of Koreans were also forcibly relocated to Karafuto. An extensive railway network was constructed in Karafuto to support the extraction of natural resources. The maintained 682.6 kilometers of track in four main lines and an additional 58.2 kilometers of track.

Government

Karafuto was administered from the central government in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

as the under the of the

Home Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

. The Colonization Bureau became the in 1923 at which time Karafuto was officially designated an overseas territory of the

. When the Ministry of Colonial Affairs was absorbed into the new Ministry of Greater East Asia in 1942, the administration of Karafuto was separated, and Karafuto became an integral part of the Japanese archipelago.

Directors of the Karafuto Agency

Major cities

As of 1945, Karafuto was divided into four subprefectures, which in turn were subdivided into 11

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, in turn divided into 41

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

(one

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, 13

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

, and 27 villages). Karafuto's largest city was

, while other major cities included Esutoru in the north central and Maoka in the south central region. The list below are the towns and the city of the prefecture. These in ''italics'' are the corresponding current Russian names.

Esutoru Subprefecture Uglegorsk (russian: Углего́рск) is a coastal port town and the administrative center of Uglegorsky District in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the west coast of Sakhalin Island, northwest of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the administrative ...

() * Towns ** Chinnai (, '' Krasnogorsk'') ** Esutoru (, '' Uglegorsk'') ** Nayoshi (, '' Lesogorskoye'') ** Tōro (, ''

Shakhtyorsk Shakhtyorsk (russian: Шахтёрск; ja, 塔路, ''Tōro'') is a town in Uglegorsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the western coast of the Sakhalin Island, northwest of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the administrative center of the ...

'')

Maoka Subprefecture Kholmsk (russian: Холмск), known until 1946 as Maoka ( ja, 真岡), is a port town and the administrative center of Kholmsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, on coast of t ...

() * Towns ** Honto (, ''

Nevelsk Nevelsk (russian: Не́вельск; ja, 本斗, ''Honto'') is a port town and the administrative center of Nevelsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the ad ...

'') ** Maoka (, '' Kholmsk'') ** Naihoro (, '' Gornozavodsk'') ** Noda (, '' Chekhovo'') ** Tomarioru (, '' Tomari'') Shikuka Subprefecture () * Towns ** Shirutoru (, '' Makarov'') ** Shikuka, Shisuka (, '' Poronaysk'')

Toyohara Subprefecture Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ( rus, Ю́жно-Сахали́нск, a=Ru-Южно-Сахалинск.ogg, p=ˈjuʐnə səxɐˈlʲinsk, literally "South Sakhalin City") is a city on Sakhalin island, and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. ...

() * City ** Toyohara (, '' Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk'') * Towns ** Ochiai (, ''

Dolinsk Dolinsk (russian: Долинск) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities * Dolinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, a town in Dolinsky District of Sakhalin Oblast ;Rural localities * Dolinsk, Orenburg Oblast, a settlement in ...

'') ** Ōtomari (, '' Korsakov'') ** Rūtaka (, '' Aniva'')

Present Days (1945-)

Today South Sakhalin is now part of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

since 1945 the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

by the

. *

Karafuto Fortress The Karafuto Fortress was the defensive unit formed by the Karafuto fortification installations, and the Karafuto detachment of Japanese forces, the 88th Division. The headquarters was in Toyohara, capital of the province, based on the Suzuya plai ...

* Apostolic Prefecture of Karafuto *

Karafuto Shrine Karafuto Shrine (樺太神社, ''Karafuto jinja'') was a Shinto shrine in Toyohara, Karafuto Prefecture in what is now Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. The shrine was established in 1911, and its main annual festival was held on August 23. Kami enshrin ...

Nishikubo Shrine Nishikubo Shrine (西久保神社, ''Nishikubo jinja'') was a Shinto shrine in Toyohara, Karafuto Prefecture (today Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia). The shrine was established in 1915, and its main annual festival was held on July 2. ...

Sakhalin Ainu language Sakhalin Ainu is an extinct Ainu language, or perhaps several Ainu languages, that was or were spoken on the island of Sakhalin, now part of Russia. History and present situation The Ainu of Sakhalin appear to have been present on Sakhalin re ...

Sakhalin Koreans Sakhalin Koreans are Russian citizens and residents of Korean descent living on Sakhalin Island, who can trace their roots to the immigrants from the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces of Korea during the late 1930s and early 1940s, the latte ...

Kuril Islands dispute The Kuril Islands dispute, known as the Northern Territories dispute in Japan, is a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over the ownership of the four southernmost Kuril Islands. The Kuril Islands are a chain of islands that stretch ...

* Ainu in Russia

Notes

References

* Sevela, Marie, "Sakhalin: The Japanese under Soviet rule". ''History and Memory'', January 1998, pp. 41–46. * Sevela, Marie, "Nihon wa Soren ni natta toki. Karafuto kara Saharin e no ikô 1945–1948". ''Rekishigakukenkû'', 1995, no. 676, pp. 26–35, 63.

External links

Secret of Sakhalin Island (Karafuto)
*Karafuto maps:

* ttp://kabaren.org/ All Japan Federation of Karafuto
Internationalsteam.uk: Steam and the Railways of Sakhalin
{{Authority control History of Sakhalin Former Japanese colonies Former prefectures of Japan Empire of Japan Subdivisions of Japan States and territories established in 1905 States and territories disestablished in 1945 1905 establishments in Japan 1905 establishments in the Japanese colonial empire 1949 disestablishments in Japan Japan–Soviet Union relations Axis powers