Shikotan is an island in the Kurils occupied by the Russian Federation. It is claimed by Japan as the titular Shikotan District (色丹郡), organized as part of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture. The island’s primary economic activities are fisheries and fishing, with the principal marine products being cod, crab, and kelp.
The English name Shikotan transcribes both the Japanese name 色丹. The Japanese name derives from the Ainu Sikotan (シコタン or シコタヌ). The name combines the Ainu reflexive or embellishing prefix si- and the word kotan (“settlement, village”), used metonymically in Ainu for each of the islands of the Kurils.
Geography
The total land area of Shikotan is 225 square kilometers (87 sq mi). The island is hilly, averaging 300 meters in elevation. The shores of the island are very indented and covered with oceanic meadows. The highest altitude is 412 m. The island is formed by the volcanic rock and sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic periods. There are two extinct volcanoes on Shikotan: Mount Tomari and Mount Notoro. A number of tiny islets and rocks are scattered around the coast of Shikotan.
Shikotan’s vegetation consists mostly of Sakhalin fir, larch, deciduous trees, bamboo underbrush, and juniper brushwood.
There are two villages: Shikotan (色丹); and Anama (穴澗あなま)
History
Russia recognized Japanese sovereignty over the island in the 19th century under Shimoda Treaty. In 1885, Hanasaki District, to which the island belongs, was split off of Nemuro Province and incorporated into Chishima Province.
In September 1945, during the final days of World War II, the island, which had a population of 1,038 at the time, was invaded by 600 Soviet troops. It is one of the islands (along with the Habomai Islands) which the Soviet Union agreed in 1956 to transfer to Japan in the event of a peace treaty between the two countries (such a peace treaty has never been concluded). Between the late-1950s and to the 1960s, the Soviet Union fortified the island with old tanks (mainly IS-2 and IS-3 heavy tanks) repurposed as coastal-defense artillery against a possible seaborne invasion, by digging them into the ground and employing them as fixed gun emplacements.
An earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused major damage on the island’s coastline on October 4, 1994.