Japan’s Border Towns

Japan is an archipelago and has no land border with any neighboring nation. However, several towns and regions take the modern role of “border town”—politically, economically, and culturally.

Wakkanai is the northernmost town in Japan and is located just across from Sakhalin island, which today is Russian territory. Wakkanai developed a century ago as a port for transportation of goods to and from Sakhalin Island, the southern region of which was once Japanese. Today it serves primarily as a fishing town and regularly sees Russian sailors who bring their catches to Japan.

Tsushima Island is situated between Japan’s Kyushu Island and Korea, between the respective cities of Fukuoka and Pusan. Historically Japanese, it has long been a point of transit for trade between Japan and Korea through the course of many centuries, from lacquerware to cuisine. The island was ruled for centuries by the So clan, which historically even advocated Korean interests in Japan, and the last member of the clain Takeyuki married Princess Deokhye of Korea in 1931.

I have visited both Wakkanai and Tsushima, and one telling example that shows the interraction with the neighboring regions is road signs. All road signs in Japan display the Japanese names followed by Roman letters. Road signs in Wakkanai and Tsushima are trilingual, with a third language of either Russian or Korean.

Relations with the the respective foreigners in both border towns are polar opposites. Tsushima has an economy that has grown very dependent on investment and tourists from South Korea. In Wakkanai and other parts of the northern island of Hokkaido, incidents of crude or criminal Russian sailors has led to poor relations.