Japonski Island, or Yak'w Kashaneixí, is a small island in the city of Sitka in the Alexander Archipelago

Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a long archipelago, or group of islands, of North America off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep channels and fjords separate the...

 of southeastern Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It lies across the Sitka Channel

Sitka Channel

The Sitka Channel is a strait that separates Japonski Island from Baranof Island in Alaska.The Sitka Channel, or more commonly referred to as simply The Channel by locals, is a notable feature of Sitka, Alaska that separates vital portions of infrastructure located on the peripheral Japonski Island...

 from Sitka's central business district.

The Russians

Russian colonization of the Americas

The Russian colonization of the Americas covers the period, from 1732 to 1867, when the Tsarist Imperial Russian Empire laid claim to northern Pacific Coast territories in the Americas...

 named the island Japonski (Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 for "Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese") after some Japanese fishermen who were stranded there in 1805 (unnamed Russians returned them to Yezo (Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

) in 1806).

Japonski Island is connected to Baranof Island

Baranof Island

Baranof Island, also sometimes called Baranov Island, Shee or Sitka Island, is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov...

 and Sitka by the O'Connell Bridge

John O'Connell Bridge

The John O'Connell Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Sitka Channel located in Sitka, Alaska. The bridge connects the town of Sitka on Baranof Island to the airport and Coast Guard Station on Japonski Island. Until the bridge was completed in 1972 the commute was only achievable through a...

. Before the bridge there was a ferry system similar to that which currently exists in Ketchikan

Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost sizable city in that state. With an estimated population of 7,368 in 2010 within the city limits, it is the fifth most populous city in the state....

. The shoreboats that maintained the transportation link between Japonski and the rest of Sitka were the Donna, Teddy, Dorothy, Diane, and Arrowhead.

Japonski Island is home to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport

Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport

Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport is a public airport owned and operated by the State of Alaska located on Japonski Island in southwestern Sitka, Alaska, U.S....

; the Sitka branch campus of the University of Alaska Southeast

University of Alaska Southeast

The University of Alaska Southeast is a regional university in the University of Alaska System. Its main campus is located in Juneau and it has extended campuses in Sitka and Ketchikan....

; Mt. Edgecumbe High School

Mt. Edgecumbe High School

Mt. Edgecumbe High School is a State of Alaska-run public boarding high school located in Sitka, Alaska in the United States.The school is named for Mount Edgecumbe which is located on Kruzof Island, a dormant volcano visible from Mt...

 — a state-run boarding school for rural Alaskans; the Indian Health Service

Indian Health Service

Indian Health Service is an Operating Division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . IHS is responsible for providing medical and public health services to members of federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Natives...

 regional hospital SEARHC (SouthEast Alaska Regional Healthcare Center); a United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 air station; the port and facilities for the USCGC Maple

USCGC Maple (WLB-207)

The USCGC Maple is a 225-foot United States Coast Guard Seagoing Buoy Tender. The Maple is the seventh of 16 in the Juniper class and took the place of the decommissioned USCGC Woodrush....

; and the restored boathouse maintained by the Sitka Maritime Heritage Society. Besides the Coast Guard housing complex, there are very few Sitkans who live on Japonski Island. The official population was 269 persons at the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. The land area of Japonski Island, including the connected nearby much smaller islands such as Virublennoi (Rus. for "production"), Sasedni (Rus. for "Neighbour"), Kirushkin (prob. a Russian surname), Makhnati (Rus. for "magnates") and smaller islets, was 1.467 square kilometres (362.5 acre).