The Japanese heavily colonize Sakhalin

Dorozhand

Banned
What could have happened to make Japan colonize Sakhalin Island to the point where it could be called the fifth home island?
 
A big problem for the Japanese is that by the the 19th century, Russian colonization of Sakhalin had reached such a point that for a comparatively weak Japan, it was already quite difficult to colonize the southern half. I think there were agreements before the Russo-Japanese war to the effect that the Japanese would colonize only the southern half, and the Russians, the northern half, as a method of resolving conflicts between colonists. You'd have to have the Japanese reach Sakhalin before the Russians reach it, which would basically be before Russia is established in strength in the Far East.
 
They did colonize it pretty heavily in the 40 years they had south Sakhalin. No matter how heavily they colonized it though, they would have lost the island to Russia if they repeated WWII. If Japan stayed out of WWII or surrendered before the Soviets entered, they could have kept the southern half and there would be 4 1/2 home islands with Sakhalin serving as a sort of Hokkaido-plus. After all, it can't really be a home island if it's shared with another country.
 
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