Following the near-crisis that was the Otsu Incident, Japan and Russia negotiated a settlement that ultimately pleased both: Japan ceded Dalian and its sphere of influence in Manchuria that it had gained following its involvement in the Sino-French War and Russia ceded the territories then known as Sakhalin, the Kurils, Kamchatka, Alaska, and other lands east of the 150th Meridian to Japan.
What if the exchange hadn't occurred?
What if the exchange hadn't occurred?