(stg.sakhalin.su)
ISLAND VIEW Sakhalin Travel Group offers a comprehensive rundown of what's happening in town, a selection of click-on photos of tours, hotels and activities in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and information on trips to the interior. STG is also the publisher of Sakhalin's fortnightly English-language newspaper the Sakhalin Times, another valuable resource.
Fifty Years on
(www.pref.hokkaido.jp/soumu/sm-hrtsk/hp-en/hist-en.htm)
STILL AT WAR Russia and Japan remain technically at war due to the seizure of the Japanese-controlled Kuril Islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotanto and Habomai in the closing days of World War II by the then Soviet Union. Because of this long-simmering dispute, Japan has also given Sakhalin the cold shoulder, despite a history of contact with the island going back centuries. Read about Japanese attempts to secure the return of the Kurils on the Hokkaido government website. For the Russian version of events, go to www.sakhalin.ru/Engl/Region/history.htm