Russian name for Hokkaido

Suppose that the USSR conquered Hokkaido at the end of WWII, would they want to or be able to annex it as they did Sakhalin and the Kurils? If so, I presume they would Russify the territory, in which case what name would Hokkaido (and some of its larger cities) have?

Also, is it plausible for the Russian Empire to accomplish this at an earlier time?
 
While the Soviets might have been able to conquer Manchuria earlier, they would probably have to deal with the IJN if they wanted to take Hokkaido earlier.
 
I thought that at this point, the IJN was basically a non-entity?

In any case, what I'm asking is in the event Hokkaido is conquered; whether it can be done is a separate question.
 
I wonder if they would dare to annex it. There lived around 2,5 million Japanese on the island before the war and the extreme short distance to American Japan would make it a hotbed for conflict.
 
Is there an Ainu name for it?

Otherwise Hokkaido was pretty well established in cartography.
 
Given that this is the USSR, the name would probably depend on how they chose to organize the territory. If they make it an SSR or an ASSR within Russia, they'll name it after the ethnicity they want to promote within the territory. If they make it an oblast, they'll probably name it after the biggest city. IMHO, the possibilities include:

  • A Yamato SSR, incorporating the whole of Hokkaido, incorporating an Ainu or Ezo ASSR;
  • A Yamato and an Ainu or Ezo ASSR, both within the RSFSR;
  • A Sapporo Oblast within the RSFSR.

That's assuming the USSR actually annexes the island. Far more likely, they'll sponsor a "Democratic People's Republic of Japan".
 
Kaliningrad Oblast was annexed, despite not being Russian at all. Most realistically, if they are going for the ethnic route, then they can name it the Ainu (A)SSR, with the option of either becoming a separate SSR or an ASSR within the RSFSR. This is only for the island of Hokkaido itself.
 
Is there an Ainu name for it?

Otherwise Hokkaido was pretty well established in cartography.

Yeah, I would think it would remain as Hokkaidô, unless some crazy person in the *Japanese branch of the CPSU wanted to restore the old Japanese name of "Ezô" (which would probably be "Yezo" in Russian, as that was the old translation of "Ezô" based on a Portuguese translation of the Middle Japanese name).
 
That's assuming the USSR actually annexes the island. Far more likely, they'll sponsor a "Democratic People's Republic of Japan".

I think Hokkaido is too small for a realistic People's republic. The whole Japanese population in 1945 was 72 millions, living in Hokkaido around 3 million, most likely less due to people fleeing during the annexation ITTL. Even with Soviet standards it would be hard to gain any legitimacy. Though I guess it's possible but it would be utterly dependent on Soviet with close to no power of their own.

An outright annexation would be more likely but would have the problem of a large hostile population. Kaliningrad had the advantage that there was a German satellite within Soviets sphere. The German population, small compared to the discussed Japanese, was deported out of the area, a similar action would be hard in Japan. They can be deported to Japan of course but it's diplomatically a hard endeavour than it was in the Kaliningrad question.

Another solution was to demand military bases without any annexation.
 
Maybe Vastokayask like in this map?

ringofred_0130_screen007-1.jpg
 
There was a period in the late Shogunate when Japanese leaders began to fear Russian ambitions towards Hokkaido. Its the same period that's having problems with Sakhalin and the Kurils, all places that Japan basically viewed as historically "theirs" but were now finding that Russians were all over them.

The suggestion of Ezo/Yezo seems likely in this case, unless they did as they did with Vladivostock (also Vladikavkaz) and created an entirely new name that had a descriptor in it.

Out of interest, what did Japan call Sakhalin?

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
I think Hokkaido is too small for a realistic People's republic. The whole Japanese population in 1945 was 72 millions, living in Hokkaido around 3 million, most likely less due to people fleeing during the annexation ITTL. Even with Soviet standards it would be hard to gain any legitimacy. Though I guess it's possible but it would be utterly dependent on Soviet with close to no power of their own.
The 3.5 million living on Hokkaido in 1945 is comparable with the population of Finland at the time, for which a puppet People's Republic was actually created.
 
Maybe they would name it off something derived from Ainu Mosir. It's used by the modern Ainu to refer to their traditional homeland in Hokkaido?
 
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