Sakhalin in the context of "Okhotsk Plate"

The Sea of Japan (see below for other names) is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean. This isolation also affects faunal diversity and salinity, both of which are lower than in the open ocean. The sea has no large islands, bays or capes. Its water balance is mostly determined by the inflow and outflow through the straits connecting it to the neighboring seas and the Pacific Ocean. Few rivers discharge into the sea and their total contribution to the water exchange is within 1%.

The seawater has an elevated concentration of dissolved oxygen that results in high biological productivity. Therefore, fishing is the dominant economic activity in the region. The intensity of shipments across the sea has been moderate owing to political issues, but it is steadily increasing as a result of the growth of East Asian economies.

The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the northwestern 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 south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north. Its northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. The sea is named for the port of Okhotsk, itself named for the Okhota River.

Hokkaido (Japanese: 北海道, Hepburn: Hokkaidō; pronounced [hok.kaꜜi.doː] , lit. 'Northern Sea Circuit'; Ainu: Aynu Mosir, lit. 'Land of the Ainu') is the second-largest and northernmost of Japan's four main islands. Together with its surrounding islands, it comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu. The two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel.

The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city. Sakhalin lies about 43 kilometres (27 mi) to the north of Hokkaidō. To the east and northeast are the Kuril Islands, which are administered by Russia. The four most southerly are claimed by Japan. Hokkaido's position on the northern end of the Japanese archipelago results in a colder climate, with the island seeing significant snowfall each winter. Despite the harsher climate, it serves as an agricultural breadbasket for many crops.

The climate of Ireland is mild, humid and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. Ireland's climate is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of northwest Europe. The island receives generally warm summers and cool winters.

As Ireland is downwind of a large ocean, it is considerably milder in winter than other locations at the same latitude, for example Newfoundland in Canada or Sakhalin in Russia. The Atlantic overturning circulation, which includes ocean currents such as the North Atlantic Current and Gulf Stream, releases additional heat over the Atlantic, which is then carried by the prevailing winds towards Ireland giving, for example, Dublin a milder winter climate than other temperate oceanic climates in similar locations.

Karafuto Prefecture (樺太庁, Karafuto-chō; Japanese pronunciation: [ka.ɾa.ɸɯ̥.to]) 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 Russian Empire under the Treaty of Portsmouth.

Karafuto Prefecture was established in 1907 to govern Karafuto, which was part of Japan's External Land (Gaichi), until it was incorporated into an Inner Land (Naichi) of the Japanese metropole in April 1943. Ōtomari (Korsakov) was the capital of Karafuto from 1905 to 1908 and Toyohara (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) from 1908 to 1945.

Hokkaido (Japanese: 北海道, Hepburn: Hokkaidō; pronounced [hok.kaꜜi.doː] , lit. 'Northern Sea Circuit'; Ainu: Aynu Mosir, lit. 'Land of the Ainu') is the second-largest and northernmost of Japan's four main islands. Together with its surrounding islands, it comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu. The two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel.

The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city. Sakhalin lies about 43 kilometres (27 mi) to the north of Hokkaido. To the east and northeast are the Kuril Islands, which are administered by Russia. The four most southerly are claimed by Japan. Hokkaido's position on the northern end of the Japanese archipelago results in a colder climate, with the island seeing significant snowfall each winter. Despite the harsher climate, it serves as an agricultural breadbasket for many crops.

Ezo, Yezo or Yeso (蝦夷; Japanese pronunciation: [eꜜ.(d)zo]) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the people and the lands to the northeast of the Japanese island of Honshu. This included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 1869, and sometimes included Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The word Ezo means 'the shrimp barbarians' in Japanese.

In reference to the people of that region, the same two kanji used to write the word Ezo can also be read Emishi. The descendants of these people are most likely related to the Ainu people of today.

Khabarovsk Krai (Russian: Хабаровский край, romanized: Khabarovskiy kray, IPA: [xɐˈbarəfskʲɪj kraj]) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is located in the Russian Far East and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. The administrative centre of the krai is the city of Khabarovsk, which is home to roughly half of the krai's population and the largest city in the Russian Far East (just ahead of Vladivostok). Khabarovsk Krai is the third-largest federal subject by area, and had a population of 1,343,869 as of 2010.

Being dominated by the Siberian High winter cold, the continental climates of the krai see extreme freezing for an area adjacent to the sea near the mid-latitudes, but also warm summers in the interior. The southern region lies mostly in the basin of the lower Amur River, with the mouth of the river located at Nikolaevsk-on-Amur draining into the Strait of Tartary, which separates Khabarovsk Krai from the island of Sakhalin. The north occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. Khabarovsk Krai is bordered by Magadan Oblast to the north; Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and the Sakha Republic to the west; Primorsky Krai to the south; and Sakhalin Oblast to the east.