The city was established in the 17th century as a frontier trading post to the aboriginal Ainu people who originally inhabited much of Hokkaido. It prospered through trade and as a strategic outpost in the far flung northern reaches of the empire, in the century that followed. The modern city was established in 1900, and when Japan recaptured parts of Sakhalin Island after the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, it became the main transit point to the Karafuto prefecture established there with regular steam-liner operations to Otomari (today Korsakov), a status that only increased when the Sōya railway was finally extended here in 1926. With the loss of Sakhalin in the aftermath of WWII the town's fortunes faded, and it reverted to being little more than a military post during the Cold War with American troops stationed here for much of the period. While the population is still dwindling, the end of the Cold War might change Wakkanai's fortunes once more: a regular ferry route to Sakhalin was reopened in the 1990s, and trade and ties with Russia are slowly but steadily increasing.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Wakkanai
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Wakkanai - updated Apr 2024
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Wakkanai Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
