From Vladivostok with Love part 2
While Vladivostok became the main face of Japanese migration and the Japanese Boom other areas would see an increase in migration as
Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and
Magadan along other cities saw their own Japanese migration, but unlike Vladivostok most Japanese migrating there were there for the exploration of Russia's resources and the establishing of companies to take advantage of said resources. Said Japanese migrants were also different as many of them had a full education, an established family or were looking to start one and had an even larger amounts of money to spend which quickly saw the rise of family homes, businesses and entertainment as the local Russians quickly took advantage of this boost in revenue.
Of course this changes were increasingly becoming a concern within Russia and Japan as the Russians were worried at what looked as Japanese colonization while Japan worried about their citizens and their lives in Russia. While some wished to limit the number of migrants by pushing for stricter immigration terms most of the Japanese migrants already passed them as they were already highly educated, had entered legally and simply made up too large of an economic percentage of the cities at that point. In the end both Russia and Japanese delegates would meet in Vladivostok during 1996 to gather information on the situation and come up with solutions.
After spending a few months on the matter, the delegates agreed that limiting immigration between Japan and Russia was not warranted due in large to-
- Most Japanese migrants already meet both the already existing migration requirements and the new proposed migration requirements
- The majority of the Japanese migrants already had a basic understanding of the Russian language even if most of it was filtered by the way of the Russian internet and entertainment and most were already pushing for further understanding of the Russian language
- Japanese migrants were willing to fallow local laws and customs and in some cases were more willing to fallow said laws when compared to new Russian migrants to the region
- Migrants were willing to spend large amounts of money into the local economy greatly increasing the regions standards of living while helping the overall development of the region
- There was an increasing number of Japanese-Russian interracial marriages and with it an increase in mixed children overall leading to an overall increase in the Russian population growth
- The overall migration was within the overall quota of the regions of the Russian Far East and most were already except from the quota as they more than qualified for its exceptions
The
Vladivostok Report helped alleviate many of the worries both nations had with the current situation but both agreed they had to deal with the situation. During this time new laws were made to deal with the situation. The
Vladivostok Economic Development Treaty was expanded into the rest of the coastal region of the Russian Far East pushing for further economic incentives with the
Far Eastern Economic Development Treaty and the
Vladivostok Immigration and Travel Treaty of 1996 which made it easier for the Japanese to migrate to Russia as long as they meet the local quota and necessary papers and other effects. It also made it so that they only needed proper identification and a small fee to travel from Japan to Russia with Russo-Japanese families would have a lower fee to travel both into Russia and Japan while also making easier for their children to either gain Russian or Japanese citizenship.
Of course this was just the actual laws as most of the region had already seen major changes. Notably-
Across the region being bilingual or multilingual would become common as local Russians and Japanese/Chinese migrants would learn each others language to better understand each other and better run business and such, with the majority of stores and areas having Russian/Japanese advertising and direction to make the lives for both migrants and tourists easier.
Khabarovsk Krai and Primorsky Krai
As was already stated both Vladivostok and Khabarovsk had seen an overall population growth with both quickly reaching over a million people each with Vladivostok becoming known as a major destination for entertainment and Khabarovsk becoming a major center for business and families. With both of their growth a move was made to further develop them for future growth with two major projects in the works. For one the construction of the
Vladivostok-Khabarovsk High Speed Rail would begin as citizens wished for a faster and easier way to travel across both cities with many looking at Tokyo's/Japan's high speed rail as a template for the regions own transportation. The project managed to quickly gain the major support and investment of the region and construction began in 1998 with completion hopefully occurring by 2002/2005.
The other was the Construction of the
Shimizu Vladivostok Arcology , a massive home/apartment complex based on the Palace of the Parliament in Romania. Created originally as a concept by Shimizu Corporation who wished to create a massive housing complex, the project managed to actually be accepted and financed with support by the Vladivostok government to build it there as part of the construction boom. Originally envisioned as just a housing complex alterations were quickly made as Shimizu took inspiration after their other project the
Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid with a push to create what amounted to an arcology as a more realistic concept at least compared to previous concepts and attempts. Construction would begin in 1997 with the SVA being similar in size to the the Palace of the Parliament outside of the addition of a massive greenhouse made both as a park and food production making the SVA one of the largest structures in the world.
While expensive the overall project would be cheaper than the Palace of Parliament as there were less expenses in its decor with more being pushed towards habitation with the entire thing being made so someone could live a majority if not their entire lives withing the structure as hospitals, schools, shops and so much more would be made available to the people living there. This would also allow the project to be completed by 2002 as mass investment from many corporations who wished to be the first in there along with the pre-selling of home units to people made the project profitable even before construction was completed. The success of the project has lead many other regions to gain interests in the construction of similar projects at their own cities.
Sakhalin
Another area heavily impacted by the changes in the region was Sakhalin which apart from being a point of contention between Russia and Japan would non-the less see some investment from the Japanese and Russians as the area became a region to support the growth in the Russian Far East. Things would truly change with the
1995 Neftegorsk earthquake which would both effectively destroy the city of Neftegorsk and lead to an outpouring of support from both Russians and Japanese who came together to support the local population. While such actions did help the people affected it more importantly saw Sakhalin as a whole gain major attention from both Russia and Japan who were increasingly interested in developing the region. While both would focus on oil production, extraction, and transportation the increasing warm relation between Japan and Russia lead to greater ambitions between both nations.
With the further expansion of special economic zone to more of Eastern Russia and the introduction of new immigration and travel laws both nations would look at the Vladivostok Report and agree that Sakhalin would make a perfect area for a new united project between them. Its here that both Japan and Russia agreed to begin the construction of the
The Sakhalin–Hokkaido Tunnel/Bridge. To say it was a surprise was an understatement to most people as many sill though relations were to complicated to construct such a thing but the reality was that Japan had become increasingly dependent on Russian resources to climb out of the Lost Decade and Russia deeply wished for further investment and economic growth which made both nations willing to compromise and push the project across.
For its own part Russia would go and complete the
Sakhalin Tunnel which would connect mainland Russia with Sakhalin allowing a full connection between Russia and Japan.
Due to the difficulty of such a project Sakhalin would quickly become largely owned by the
Sakhalin-Hokkaido Project Corporation, a Russo-Japanese company in charge of the construction and eventual partial ownership of said tunnel/bridge. Thousands of Japanese and Russian engineers, construction workers, and surveyors made Sakhalin their home as construction began in 1997 leading to both a major population growth and economic boom as hundreds more made their way there to take advantage of the workers and bosses needs. With the project continuing non-stop many hope this would further the economic growth of both nations and help with the major transportation of people and goods between Russia and Japan.
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands had ever since the end of World War 2, being a point of contention between the Soviets and Japan and later Russia and Japan and were one of the major reasons neither nation were that willing to support or tolerate each other as in effect both were still technically at war. For the most part the islands would continue to be a point of contention between Russia and Japan as Russia was not willing to separate with the islands but would still change due to the growing Russo-Japanese economic cooperation. At first Russian tourist boats would increasingly bring Japanese tourists to the waters around the island and increasingly into the island themselves as they pushed for further exploration for tourism sake. This lead to an increase in habitation as Russians moved in to accommodate said tourists which lead to economic and population growth.
This process would accelerate as the announcement of the construction of the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Tunnel/Bridge would lead to a massive increase in tourism and fishing in the region as the islands became a major area for families visiting from Sakhalin. This would lead Russia to push for the
Kuril Protection and Development Act to be created as a way to both protect the region from pollution and exploitation while allowing some development on the islands. Notably the Russian government would go and locate many of the former Japanese inhabitants of the islands and their descendants and ask for their return to said islands, primarily as an act of good will to Japan and just a great piece of propaganda. This did lead to an increase in the islands population and a transformation into its own small community which continues to prosper till today.
Hokkaido
As Japanese immigrants/tourists increasingly traveled to Russia, Hokkaido suddenly saw itself become a major place of import as many Japanese would use Hokkaido as their final stop from Japan to Russia. This lead to major economic growth as entire industries would be made to make it easier for someone to gain access to and understand Russia or at least that is what most businesses were saying on their advertisements. None the less the island did see major development as Russian immigrants/tourists also stopped to the island to get acquainted leading to the push for the expansion of the New Chitose Airport and several Russsian/Japanese Language Schools/Cultural Exchange.
Things would fully take off with the announcement of the Sakhalin-Hokkaido Tunnel/Bridge as northern region of Hokkaido became filled with construction workers and new apartments to hold them along with businesses, while further inland several Japanese and Russian construction corporations would set up their own regional branches to create a major construction business Mecca with the
Sakhalin-Hokkaido Project Corporation setting up their corporate headquarters there until construction in Sakhalin went further along. In fact further construction would be done to connect Hokkaido with Honshu with a new tunnel connection.
Finally due to the increase tourism there would be an increase in understanding the Ainu. Originally pushed by the local tourism board as a new attraction, many Ainu or at least merchandise based on the Ainu would be sold to tourists in the region along with performances that based on "real" Ainu customs. Ironically this cheap push for tourism did lead to actual demand on actual Ainu traditions and customs which lead to several Ainu restorations and Ainu rights groups to form as the Ainu started to gain major attention and economic support leading to a full Ainu restoration in the region as a major push back was made against the historical Japanese colonization as many would join into the
Ainu Party to further their political goals of further rights and reparations from the Japanese government. In the end the party did succeed in gaining more rights and full support for the restoration of Ainu customs and culture.
Khabarovsk Krai and the rest of Coastal East Russia
As the rest of East Russia changed from the major rise of Japanese/Russian immigration and tourism the coastal cities of the rest of East Russia changed as well. For the most part the main attraction in these regions were tourism and resources as many Russian and Japanese would move to survey the region looking on how to develop and extract the local resources in the area. This lead mostly to single men to move there as not many families wanted to move so far north which lead to the practice of Russian or Chinese women from poor families/backgrounds to contact men and become mail-order brides as many moved to marry the large population of single man in the area as many hoped to one day move to Japan or at least Vladivostok. This lead to a large population of interracial marriages, families and children being born to the point they would become a majority in the area leading to the creation of a strange culture combining Russian, Japanese, Chinese and local Siberian traditions and customs to the point it was not hard to find Orthodox Church services with Shinto Shrines and Shine maidens near or next to each other while Chinese food was served while listing to American music on their Walkman.
The Sea of Okhotsk
As the Soviet Union fell the Sea of Okhotsk became a major region for international fishing as the lack of Russian authority allowed many fishing vessels to travel to the Peanut Hole, a region where Russian territorial waters did not fully expand into. This would allow them to take as much fish as they could carry which devastated the local fish stock and damaged the ecology of the region. While most major fishing would stop by 1993 the increasing development in the Russian Far East lead to the rise of the
Boat People, groups of small independent fisherman from across Russia, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam and even Poland and America who would continue to fish the waters mostly to eat the fish or occasionally sell their catch.
The Boat People quickly became a large group with anywhere from over 5000 to over 10,000 later on as many would increasingly use the waters for illegal trade of goods and services as pirated Walkman, Game Consoles, illegal tourism trips, and the transportation of people became common in the area. By 1996 the entire operation had become highly profitable as thousands if not millions were made with many staying full time on the water to avoid the authorities while most authorities on land looked the other way or were part of the local operation.
This lead to major demands to do something about which would be finally done as in 1996 a major operation to arrest most of them would occur. However the Russian authorities did see the massive economic potential the boat people and the Sea of Okhotsk trade brought which lead to the overall pardoning or a massively reduced sentence for most of them as a new office was made to deal with them and police trade and travel across the Sea of Okhotsk allowing many of the Boat People to return to their profession as long as they had a permit and did things legally. Since then many have improved their operation further driving tourism in the area and helping preserve the Boat People's new emerging culture as their numbers continue to grow.
Hopefully this is okay and does not conflict with what has already occurred. Will change things if asked.
