Cape Soya
Encyclopedia
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is situated in Wakkanai
Wakkanai, Hokkaido
is a city located in Sōya, Hokkaidō. It is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture and the northernmost city in Japan. It contains Japan's northernmost point, Cape Soya, from which the Russian island of Sakhalin can be seen....
, Sōya Subprefecture
Soya Subprefecture
is a subprefecture of Hokkaidō, Japan. Its population is estimated to be 77,500 as of July 31, 2004 and its area is 4,050.84 km². It is the northernmost subprefecture of Japan.Wakkanai Airport is located in Wakkanai...
. The is at the cape, although the true northernmost point under Japanese control is a small deserted island called Bentenjima
Bentenjima (Wakkanai)
is a small deserted island west by northwest of Cape Sōya, Wakkanai, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is the northernmost piece of land under Japanese control. The island is 1km north of Sannai settlement. Another island called lies southeast of Bentenjima....
, 1 km northwest. Since the cape is just 43 km away across La Perouse Strait
La Perouse Strait
La Pérouse Strait is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan on the west with the Sea of Okhotsk on the east....
from Cape Crillon
Cape Crillon
Cape Crillon is the southernmost point of Sakhalin. The cape was named by Frenchman Jean-François de La Pérouse, who was the first European to discover it. Cape Sōya, in Japan, is located 43km to the south, across La Pérouse Strait....
, Sakhalin Island, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, it is possible to catch a glimpse of the island of Sakhalin on a clear day.
There are more than ten monuments at Cape Sōya, including the Monument of the Northernmost Point of Japan, the Tower of Prayer (a memorial of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, 1983), a statue of Mamiya Rinzō
Mamiya Rinzō
was a Japanese explorer of the late Edo period.Mamiya was born in 1775 in Tsukuba District, Hitachi Province, in what is now Tsukubamirai, Ibaraki Prefecture. Later in his life he would become an undercover agent for the Tokugawa shogunate...
, the Monument of Peace (a memorial of USS Wahoo
USS Wahoo (SS-238)
was a Gato-class submarine, the first United States Navy ship to be named for the wahoo, a dark blue food fish of Florida and the West Indies....
), and others. Sōya Misaki settlement, east of the cape, has many facilities known to be "the northernmost in Japan", such as the northernmost lighthouse (Cape Sōya Lighthouse), the northernmost filling station (Idemitsu
Idemitsu Kosan
is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, refineries and produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products products....
Cape Sōya SS), the northernmost elementary school (Ōmisaki Elementary School), and so on.
Monument of Peace
USS Wahoo (SS-238)
was a Gato-class submarine, the first United States Navy ship to be named for the wahoo, a dark blue food fish of Florida and the West Indies....
, sunk with 80 men aboard on October 11, 1943, as well as 5 Japanese merchant ships sunk with 690 people, attacked by Wahoo. The inscription on the memorial reads in part:
The exact position of the Wahoo was confirmed by a dive team from the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd in July 2006.