Destination #12: Yuzhno Sakhalinsk

Well today we're going somewhere you've probably never heard of... Yuzhno Sakhalinsk!

What??? How do you even pronounce that?!

Umm...Don't ask me!

Here are some maps to give you an idea where it is... Basically, it's in a part of Russia you don't normally see, the part that's right by Japan!



In fact, Yuzhno Sakhalinsk has actually switched hands a couple times between Russia and Japan. It was originally a small Russian settlement founded in 1882, then it was handed over to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, then finally, after WWII, it was returned to Russia.


Here is a drawing of what the original settlement looked like.

Next are a few pictures to give you a sense of what it looks like today:







They got a lot of snow there (sound familiar Cazenovia?) but they seem to have fun with it! Check it out:







And here is a neat picture of one of the few remaining Japanese buildings, not converted into a museum!



Next up is some guy's Youtube video sharing a bit of his travels:



Ok, because Youtube can be so bizarre sometimes, here's some other videos posted by people from Yuzhno, just for fun. First up, OFF ROADIN!



And second, its MOONBEAM playing LIVE! Haha. Well, I guess Yuzhno has some sort of music scene then? Funny:




And finally, a couple of webcams! Can't say these are the most exciting webcams I've ever seen, but hey, I was a bit surprised to see that a place like Yuzhno Sakhalinsk would even have some!