Korsakov is a port city, the details of which I recommend reading at least on Wikipedia (and you can study the links at the bottom of this page, as well). But I will tell you something about this city here too.

According to the website of the city Administration, the day of the foundation of Korsakov is October 4, 1853. This settlement had different names, including the Japanese Otomari (Odomari) (大泊), when Nicholas II gave the south of Sakhalin to the Japanese by the hands of count Witte after the shamefully lost Russian-Japanese War.

I like most of all another (unofficial) name of this city ― the Southern Gate of Sakhalin. When you stand on the shore of Aniva bay, you realize that these are not just words ― you really feel it all over your skin. You look to the south, and you realize that Japan is near ― approximately 150 kilometers. In fact, the distance between Cape Crillon (the closest point of Sakhalin to Japan) and Hokkaido is slightly less than 50 kilometers, but these are details. In any case, in Korsakov, you understand clearly that here Japan is closer to you than even Tver is to Moscow.

We seem to be lucky that we saw this city at the beginning of 2017. As one local resident told us, the city has literally transformed over the past couple of years (as soon as the governor was replaced, the entire administrative team of the island was updated). And this, by the way, is noticeable even in the photos available on the Internet (the Wikipedia, for example): for example, facades of houses have been begun to insulate and to make more cheerful. However, so far the gas problem has not been solved. And this is strangely: for how many years the LNG plant has been standing (15 for 2020), and at the same time there is no gas in Korsakov. However, the heating is mainly on coal, so despite the clear sea air, the air smells of steam locomotives.

As mentioned above, it is a port city. It's really the international gate of the island. I suppose that if there were no settlement in this place, it should be built there ― the very terrain predisposes to the establishment of a settlement here. The town is small, just over 33 thousand inhabitants. And, by the way, the number of them has decreased ― many are trying to move from here to the mainland.  Also, after the appearance of the LNG plant, the city began to shake (earthquakes became more frequent ― small, but unpleasant). But we will talk about the LNG plant in a separate gallery. Here I note that, oddly enough, despite the presence of a typical Russian brand "lopsided fence", the city does not make a dull impression. Life here seems measured and unhurried. Someone works in the port, someone is engaged in the service sector. The city has a museum, there are good restaurants with delicious fish and crabs. I believe that this town has a great tourist potential (only the smoke of boiler-houses makes some adjustments, as well as the love of Russians for scattering plastic under the bushes). There is also a military unit located here (what is logical in the border zone). Consider the general state of the modern Russian province, I did not find this town depressing. And I don't think that my impression depended on the bright sun that shone over us that day.

There are several viewing points in the town (4, according to Yandex), of which we visited two. On one of them is a metal monument dedicated to Korean slaves abandoned by the Japanese in 1945. When Karafuto became Sakhalin again, the Japanese sent a ship for their compatriots and took the Japanese to Japan. Korean slaves on this ship (I suppose, there were several ships) did not have enough space, Japanese promised to send another ship for them. But they didn't send it. Unhappy abandoned Koreans waited for a long time that they would come for them. Many did not survive the cold winters or simply died of hunger ― in general, it was a black page of Korean history on Sakhalin. Then, many years later, the descendants of the surviving Koreans erected a monument to their ancestors who survived and did not survive this tragedy. To be honest, I don't really understand how all these Koreans ended up on the street, but ― the story was like this. Now Koreans live in Korsakov, as well, although, here they are not found on the streets as often as in Yuzhnyi.

Now nothing in the town reminds of the convict past (except the local history museum, of course). This is a port city, where you can immediately see that people live here by fish and sea trade transport. Will hope that the new authorities will not stop their course on the development of this town and will not reduce the pace of its renewal, because this place is very interesting.

2017, redaction and translation in 2020