From the research of Michi Horie
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Japanese researchers studying the historical relationship between Russia and Japan have expressed confusion and concern. One such researcher is Kyoto resident Machi Horie, whose grandfather and father emigrated to Vladivostok and Kamchatka before the war and ran a store there. Based on some of the research she has compiled and similar research that has been sent to her, I would like to introduce the activities of Japanese people in Kamchatka before the war.
Horie Machi was born in Kyoto City in 1940, and after graduating from Doshisha University, she worked as a junior high school teacher while researching the history of exchanges between Japan and Russia through the belongings of her family, including her grandfather, who had footprints in Vladivostok and other places. She serves as a director of the Kyoto Prefectural Branch and the national branch of the Japan Eurasia Association, and is the author of "Vladivostok's Japanese Town: What the Exchanges of the Japanese and Russian People in the Meiji and Taisho Eras Tell Us" (planned and edited by the Eurasia Institute and Booklet Editorial Committee, Toyo Shoten, 2005). She has a strong desire to "leave for future generations the history of exchanges at the private level between Japan and Russia, centered on her family's roots."
The Japan Eurasia Association, to which Horie belongs, "aims to promote mutual understanding and goodwill with the peoples of the former Soviet Union and contribute to world peace, and is engaged in a wide range of activities, from cultural activities, academic exchange, and people-to-people exchange to Russian, ethnic language, and Japanese language education, economic exchange, environmental protection, relief for victims of Chernobyl and Semipalatinsk, the abolition of nuclear weapons, and promoting the conclusion of a Japan-Russia peace treaty" (according to the association's website).
A Japanese fishing base was established here.
The Kamchatka Peninsula, which is rarely talked about these days, is located on the opposite side of the Kuril Islands, which stretch from Hokkaido to the Northern Territories of Japan, at 57 degrees north latitude and 160 degrees east longitude, across the Sea of Okhotsk, to the east of Sakhalin. It has an area of 472,300 square kilometers, and its central city is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It is inhabited by Russians, Slavs, and indigenous peoples.
Eurasia Travel, which also plans tours to Russia, used to plan and run trips to Vladivostok and the Kamchatka Peninsula from Narita Airport via Vladivostok to Yelizovo Airport in Kamchatka using scheduled flights. In the summer, it was also possible to fly directly to Yelizovo Airport by charter flight. However, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, such plans have been discontinued.
In modern times, the position of Kamchatka in the relationship between Japan and Russia was established on February 7, 1855 (the first year of the Ansei era) with the "Treaty of Peace and Amity between Japan and Russia" which established the border between Japan and Russia between the islands of Etorofu and Urup. Kamchatka north of that was naturally Russian. However, in Sakhalin, the people of both countries continued to live together as before.
Later, in 1875, the Treaty of Exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands was concluded, which made Sakhalin Russian territory in exchange for the Kuril Islands being Japanese territory. Furthermore, as a result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, the Treaty of Portsmouth was concluded between Japan and Russia, whereby Japan received the southern half of Sakhalin from Russia and also acquired the right to operate fishing operations in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. As a result, Japanese fishing bases and processing plants began to be established in various parts of the peninsula, and Japanese people began to settle there.
From Vladivostok to Kamchatka
About half a century earlier, when Russia acquired the left bank of the Amur River as its territory in a treaty with China, it focused on development, and many foreigners opened trading companies in the port city of Vladivostok, and people from all over Japan also opened stores there (this was mentioned in Part 9: Continued: Vladivostok, the Footprints of Japanese People ). Among them was Horie's grandfather.
Below, we will trace the Horie family's connection with Vladivostok and Kamchatka, based on Horie's summary, "The Japanese who sought a new frontier in Kamchatka: The example of residents 100 years ago."
Horie's grandfather, Horie Naozo (1870-1942), lived in Urashio (Vladivostok) from 1892 (Meiji 25) to 1921 (Taisho 10). In addition to running the Horie Cannery in Vladivostok, Naozo also served as chairman of the Japanese Residents' Association, vice chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and president of Nishibirya Trading Co., and left behind historical materials (diaries, photographs, letters, postcards, letters of appreciation, etc.) deeply related to the lives of Japanese people. His grandmother, Bandai (1898-1922), also wrote a diary about life during the pioneering period.
Horie's father, Shozo, was born in Kyoto as the third son of Naozo's sister, and was adopted by Naozo in Vladivostok at the age of five. At the time, the Japanese community was developing in Vladivostok and a Japanese elementary school was opened, and Shozo studied at that Japanese school. After graduating, he went to Japan and entered Waseda Junior High School and the Russian department of the Tokyo College of Foreign Languages, graduating in the spring of 1919 (Taisho 8).
After graduation, he returned to Vladivostok and helped out at Naozo's shop, but soon decided to forge his own path, so in December 1919 he traveled to the Kamchatka Peninsula, opened a branch of Horie Shoten in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and took up lodgings with a Russian family.
"At that time, local newspapers contained advertisements from Japanese electronics stores and other privately owned shops, which gave us an idea of what the Japanese were doing," says Horie.
However, the situation soon worsened. At that time, Russia's imperial rule ended with the abdication of Nicholas II in the February Revolution of 1917, ushering in the era of the Republic. A provisional government was established, with Kerensky as prime minister, but it pursued a policy of continuing World War I (he was eventually overthrown by the Bolsheviks and went into exile).
As a result, the domestic economic situation became difficult, and although Shōzō was there and dreamed of economic and cultural exchange with Japan, it did not go well, so he withdrew from Kamchatka in 1922 (Taishō 11). Nevertheless, he remained in Hakodate, searching for a way to restart business in Russia. However, he eventually returned to Kyoto in June.
Even after that, his real life and his dream of "Russia" that he had studied at the University of Foreign Studies were difficult to give up, and he hoped to find work in Russia, but was unable to do so. In 1926, at the age of 28, he joined the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and worked at the Osaka headquarters editorial department until he retired. Shōzō spent his impressionable youth mainly in Russia, commuting back and forth between Japan and Russia, from his childhood until he returned to Japan at the age of 24. He left behind snapshots of his time in Kamchatka and the addresses of around 20 of his acquaintances in Hakodate.
Activities of Japanese merchants in Kamchatka
According to Horie's compilation from local newspapers and other sources, including "The Diary of Yasugi Sadatoshi: The Russian Road," there were 1,019 Russians, 200 Chinese, and 44 Japanese (1920) in Petropavlovsk at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the merchants were Chinese, but there were also Japanese merchants, many of whom were connected to Hakodate companies dealing in general goods, furs, and fishing. However, coastal trade came to an end in 1922 due to the collapse of the ruble, rising prices, and a shortage of cash. During this time, there was little bloodshed due to the revolution that was taking place in Russia.
Shōzō traveled to Kamchatka at the end of 1919, a turbulent time when the Russian Revolution was underway and its repercussions were spreading across the country, so Shōzō found himself in the middle of it all.
In a report to Horie by a Russian researcher of Japan-Russia relations with roots in Kamchatka who is a friend of Horie Michi, he wrote that when Shōzō arrived in Kamchatka, the White Army (a general term for the military forces that fought as counter-revolutionaries against the revolutionary "Red Army" during the Russian Revolution) was still in power in Kamchatka.
However, one month later, on January 5, 1920, the Kolchak regime collapsed, and between late night on January 9 and the 10th, the Bolsheviks (Provisional Military Revolutionary Committee) took control of the government in Petropavlovsk. Shozo started his business under the new political system. On April 6 of the same year, the Far Eastern Republic was established, and the Kamchatka region was incorporated.
Shozo's experiences as a second-generation resident
Looking back on the time and experiences of his father, Masamitsu, a second-generation Russian resident, Horie once summed it up as follows:
"While the first generation of residents did their best to establish a foundation for their lives, the second generation gained a deeper connection to and understanding of Russian culture and society. Russian culture, which flourished in the 19th century, was popular in Japan as well, and Urashima was a gateway for exchange. However, with the subsequent authoritarian rule of the Soviet Union and the unfortunate relationship between Japan and Russia, the spiritual assets that the second generation had gained were not put to good use, and were lost in 'forgotten friendship and created hostility.' Today, with the establishment of Russia and new horizons in sight, perhaps it is time to reexamine the meaning of people-to-people exchange."
(Titles omitted)
© 2025 Ryusuke Kawai
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