Ruins of a Japanese paper mill and shrine in Chekhov

In the village of Chekhov, in the Kholmsk urban district of Sakhalin Oblast, the ruins of a Japanese pulp and paper mill and a Shinto shrine have survived. The village lies on the island's west coast, between Kholmsk and Nevelsk.

History

Before 1945 the southern part of Sakhalin belonged to Japan and was known as Karafuto, and present-day Chekhov was the Japanese settlement of Noda (野田). It was founded in 1915, and in February 1922 a paper factory opened there — one of several that the Japanese built on the island's west coast. After the war, under Soviet rule, a pulp and paper plant began operating on the same site in 1946, and in 1947 the settlement was renamed Chekhov. The plant ran for several decades; after it closed, its buildings were left standing on the shore.

In the same village the Japanese had also built a Shinto shrine, Noda Jinja, founded in 1906. Like the mill, only ruins of the shrine remain today.

What to see

Along the coastal road stretch the wrecked buildings of the former paper mill: concrete and brick walls, window openings and workshop foundations running right down to the shoreline rocks. Near the mill ruins one can find the remains of Noda Jinja.

Getting there

The village of Chekhov lies on the road and railway line between Kholmsk and Nevelsk. It can be reached by a local train that runs to Kholmsk three times a day, or by bus No. 178, which runs twice a day.