Land

Japan is bounded to the west by the Sea of Japan (East Sea), which separates it from the
eastern shores of South and North Korea and southeastern Siberia (Russia); to the north by La
Perouse (Sō ya) Strait, separating it from Russian-held Sakhalin Island, and by the Sea of
Okhotsk; to the northeast by the southern Kuril Islands (since World War II under Soviet and
then Russian administration); to the east and south by the Pacific; and to the southwest by
the East China Sea, which separates it from China. The island of Tsushima lies between
northwestern Kyushu and southeastern South Korea and defines the Korea Strait on the
Korean side and the Tsushima Strait on the Japanese side.