The Habomai Islands (Japanese: 歯舞群島, romanized: Habomai guntō; Russian: Хабомаи, romanized: Khabomai) 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 near the end of World War II. But together with Iturup (Etorofu), Kunashir (Kunashiri), and Shikotan, the islands are claimed by Japan.
The Lesser Kuril Chain (Russian: Малая Курильская гряда, Japanese: 小千島列島, Shō Chishima Rettō; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕo̞ː t͡ɕiɕima̠ ɾe̞t̚to̞ː]), is an island chain in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The islands are administered as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, and many sources consider the chain to be geographically part of the Kuril Islands. However, the Japanese government claims that these islands are not part of the Kuril Islands and are instead minor islands of Hokkaido.
The Lesser Kuril Chain lies northeast of the Nemuro Peninsula in Hokkaido, near the southwestern end of the Greater Kuril Chain, from which it is separated by the South Kuril Strait. It consists of Shikotan, the Habomai Islands and several small islands lying close to the Shikotan. The chain parallels, but is much shorter than, the Greater Kuril Chain, from which the Lesser Kurils lie to the south-east.
Yuzhno-Kurilsky District (Russian: Ю́жно-Кури́льский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion) of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia; one of the seventeen in the oblast. Municipally, it is incorporated as Yuzhno-Kurilsky Urban Okrug. It is located on the southern Kuril Islands southeast of the Island of Sakhalin, comprising the islands of Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai. The area of the district is 1,856.1 square kilometers (716.6 sq mi). Its administrative center is the urban locality (an urban-type settlement) of Yuzhno-Kurilsk, located on Kunashir Island. Population: 9,501 (2010 census); 9,727 (2002 census); 13,597 (1989 Soviet census). The population of Yuzhno-Kurilsk accounts for 61.4% of the district's total population.
Cape Nosappu (納沙布岬, Nosappu-misaki) is a point on the Nemuro Peninsula, Nemuro, Japan, which is the easternmost point in Hokkaidō. It is also the easternmost point in Japan which is open to the public. It is located where the waters from the Pacific Ocean meet those from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Cape Nosappu Lighthouse is the oldest in Hokkaidō, built in 1872.
The cape is very close to the Habomai Archipelago, which is administered by Russia. The closest island, Signalny Rock, is just 3.7 km away. As such, Russian patrol boats frequently appear on the strait. However, Japan claims the sovereignty over these islands. (See Kuril Islands dispute.) Consequently, the cape houses a lot of monuments dealing with Japanese claims on the territories, such as the House of Nostalgia for the Homeland, the Bridge on the Four Islands, and others.