Karafuto prefecture

Karafuto prefecture (樺太県; Karafuto-ken) was a Japanese prefecture prior to 1945. It accounted for the Kurile Islands north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido and also the island of Sakhalin, in Japanese known as Karafuto.

During the final days of World War II, Sakhalin Island and the Kuriles were occupied by the Soviet Union, but the Japanese still refer to these as Karafuto Prefecture, or just the Kuriles. Today they are still Russian territory, though Japan and Russia have made steps toward negotiations of who gets to keep the islands.