The or (稚泊航路 ''Chihaku kōro'') was a ferry service in operation from 1923 to 1945 between

Wakkanai ' meaning "cold water river" is a city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. It contains Japan's northernmost point, Cape Sōya, from which the Russian island of Sakhalin can be seen. As o ...

in north Hokkaidō, Japan and Ōdomari, now Korsakov, in what was then

Karafuto Prefecture Karafuto Prefecture ( ja, 樺太庁, ''Karafuto-chō''; russian: Префектура Карафуто, Prefektura Karafuto), commonly known as South Sakhalin, was a prefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949. Karafuto became t ...

South Sakhalin Karafuto Prefecture ( ja, 樺太庁, ''Karafuto-chō''; russian: Префектура Карафуто, Prefektura Karafuto), commonly known as South Sakhalin, was a prefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949. Karafuto became t ...

. In November 1922, the

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure. ...

extended the

Sōya Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) in Hokkaido. The line connects Asahikawa Station in Asahikawa and Wakkanai Station in Wakkanai, and is the northernmost railway line in Japan. The name comes fr ...

to Wakkanai Station (today's

Minami-Wakkanai Station is a railway station on the Sōya Main Line in Wakkanai, Hokkaido, 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 ...

). The following May, at the behest of public and private enterprise in Hokkaidō and Karafuto, the Chihaku railway connection ferry service began operations. By the time the service was abandoned in the final days of the war in August 1945, it had ferried 2,840,000 passengers. In November 1970, a monument was erected near the

North Breakwater Dome The is a long arched " semi-domical" structure in the port area of Wakkanai, Hokkaidō, Japan. Rising to a height of above the sea and extending some , with seventy columns, an intercolumniation of , and a width from column to wall of , the for ...

in Wakkanai in its honour. Vessels on the route included the

icebreakers An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

, named after

Aniva Bay Aniva Bay (Russian: Залив Анива (''Zaliv Aniva''), Japanese: 亜庭湾, Aniwa Bay, or Aniva Gulf) is located at the southern end of Sakhalin Island, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental countr ...

, from 1927, and , named after the Sōya Straits, from 1932.

References

{{Reflist 1923 establishments in Japan 1945 disestablishments in Japan Karafuto Transport in Hokkaido History of Hokkaido Ferry transport in Japan